136 



THE GAME BREEDER 



made for a very interesting program and 

 the committee on local arrangements, of 

 which John B. Burnham, New York 

 City, is chairman, is arranging for an 

 attractive program of entertainment. 



It is expected that the attendance of 

 officials from all parts of the United 

 States and Canada will he much more 

 general than ever before. 



The Food Supply, Section 12. 



The migratory bill seemed to be in- 

 tended to put an end to the production 

 of American wild fowl for food. We 

 have engaged those behind the matter in 

 many legal battles for the right and in 

 every case they stood strong for the 

 wrong — the Lupton bill in New York in- 

 tended to permit and encourage game 

 breeding was defeated by those who 

 sought to make it criminal to have a 

 migratory bird in possession or to ship 

 or sell the desirable food. The same 

 worthies appeared in opposition to later 

 game breeders' bills and even succeeded 

 in forcing a ridiculous compromise at 

 Albany when permission was secured to 

 produce foreign pheasants and the two 

 wild fowl which least needed the breed- 

 ers' protection to save them from ex- 

 termination. Our splendid quail and 

 grouse and other highly desirable wild 

 food birds were eliminated 'from the pro- 

 posed "revival of common sense" and it 

 remained criminal, against our protest, 

 to give these birds any practical or profit- 

 able help. 



Later activities by the chief wild lifer 

 and those who ran in his train were in- 

 tended to put some of our best wild 

 food birds on the song bird list and re- 

 sulted in removing all practical and pro- 

 fitable protection from the birds. Those 

 who wished to keep alive in America 

 shooting other than trap shooting viewed 

 with alarm the migratory bill permitting 

 those whose records were against game 

 breeding to make criminal laws on this 

 subject as often as a new idea should 

 occur to them. The game breeders' ideas 

 of law and natural history and, in fact, 

 of common sense, as the dean put it, 

 were so at variance with the ideas of 

 those who, using vast sums of money, 

 were behind the criminal absurdity, that 

 we viewed with alarm the situation 



which would have been created by the 

 passage of the bill as it was originally 

 written, and had it not been repaired. The 

 new section 12 providing that "Nothing 

 in this act shall be construed to prevent 

 breeding of migratory game birds on 

 farms and preserves and the sale of birds 

 so bred under proper regulation for the 

 purpose of increasing the food supply," 

 was a very happy afterthought which 

 came none too soon and which undoubt- 

 edly was brought about by readers of 

 The Game Breeder. Early in the game 

 when we asked one of those who engi- 

 neered the bill to have an amentment 

 similar to section 12 we were informed 

 that such a repair would be impossible. 

 The intimation was that this decision 

 came from headquarters and was final. 

 Congress did well to put a little common 

 sense in the measure at the eleventh 

 hour. 



It seems a great pity that the late dean 

 of American sportsmen could not have 

 lived to see the finishing touches put on 

 to the "revival of common sense" which 

 the dean said was highly necessary and 

 important for the perpetuation of field 

 sports. The Congress did it. 



BOUNTIES ON COYOTES. 



Davenport, Wash., June 15. — J. F. 

 Hill, Deputy Auditor, took in twenty- 

 five coyotes for bounty in one morning, 

 of which number six were live puppies a 

 few days old. Nineteen coyotes were 

 brought in by J. W. Robinson of Edwall, 

 who dug the young from holes in the 

 fields. The county is paying a bounty of 

 $1.50 each in addition to the State bounty 

 of $1, and the two fees are resulting in 

 destruction of the pests by farmers and 

 sportsmen. 



♦■ — 



cAt on city pay roll. 

 Newton, Mass., June 15. — Tim, au- 

 thorized municipal cat on the- city's pay 

 roll, probably is the only cat in the coun- 

 try with such a distinction. His salary 

 is' $29.20 a year, and no public official 

 ever fulfilled his office duties more effi- 

 ciently. His title on the books is "official 

 rat and mouse catcher." A special ap- 

 propriation of 8 cents a day is made for 

 his services. 



