178 



THE GAME BREEDER 



America and that soon it will be as big 

 a business or bigger than it is in any 

 country in the world. We are inclined to 

 think there will be more pheasants and 

 wild ducks sold in America than are sold 

 in all the Continental European countries 

 in a very few years if the game breed- 

 ing industry continues to grow as it now 



is growing. 



♦ 



One Day Old Chicks. 



The Game Conservation Society con- 

 tinuing its experiments with one day 

 old wild ducks and pheasants has been 

 very successful in proving that the one 

 day old birds travel nicely both by ex- 

 press and in the mails. We would ad- 

 vise the few dealers who have decided 

 to discontinue the sale of eggs because 

 of numerous complaints to advertise and 

 sell one day old birds. One great diffi- 

 culty in America is the want of skilled 

 labor, but this will be overcome when 

 mpre under keepers are employed on 

 places where the head keeper is skillful 

 and takes an • interest in showing his 

 helpers how to do things properly. Since 

 millions of one day old poultry chicks 

 are sold and shipped by mail annually in 

 America we believe it will not be long 

 before many rural residents learn how 

 to handle one day old pheasants, wild 

 ducks, quail and other game birds. 



Since many thousands of game birds 

 are now produced every season from 

 purchased eggs we feel sure that the fail- 

 ures will not put an end to the safes and 

 shipping of eggs. Soon the places where 

 they can be procured will be so numerous 

 that it will not be necessary to ship eggs 

 long distances. 



Hungarian Partridges. 



Editor Game Breeder: 



May I ask a little information about 

 Hungarian partridges ? Are they as easy 

 to raise as ring-necked pheasants? Are 

 they as good a bird for the table as the 

 pheasant ? 



California. E. H. Moulton. 



The methods of rearing pheasants and 

 partridges are entirely different in Eng- 



land and the countries of Continental 

 Europe where both birds are abundant. 

 Usually the pheasants are hand-reared by 

 methods with which no doubt you are fa- 

 miliar. This often has been ■ compared 

 with poultry rearing. The partridges 

 usually are reared in a wild state on 

 fields made safe and attractive, that is to 

 say, fields where hedges and other suit- 

 able covers and some natural foods are 

 planted when the natural growths are not 

 sufficient to make the fields as attractive 

 as they should be. Tens of thousands 

 of partridges are reared on some of the 

 Hungarian farms where corn and wheat 

 or other small grain are planted in al- 

 ternating strips. The corn makes good 

 cover and shade and the birds find wheat 

 and other small grains in the stubbles 

 after the. harvest. The birds are fed 

 some in the winter and beat keepers 

 patrol the fields at all seasons and shoot 

 and trap the vermin. In the absence of 

 natural enemies the birds quickly can be 

 made tremendously abundant on suitable 

 areas. In a story, . written by an Eng- 

 lish Army officer, describing the shoot- 

 ing in Hungary which we published, the 

 writer said the birds came out of the 

 corn in great swarms ; their numbers 

 were positively bewildering. 



The beat keepers being only required 

 to patrol the fields and shoot and trap 

 vermin and look out for poachers, they 

 are not required to have the skill re- 

 quired of the keepers who hand rear 

 pheasants and they receive, we believe, 

 somewhat lower wages than the more 

 skilled men receive. You will observe 

 that partridges reared in this way (the 

 old birds rearing the young in safe 

 places) should be easier to rear than 

 hand reared pheasants are. 



In some places in England and other, 

 countries a few .partridges are penned 

 and sometimes a few eggs are lifted and 

 hatched under hens, but this»is only sup- 

 plemental to the general wild breeding 

 on the place and it is quite unusual on 

 large places. When partridges are 

 penned for- safety the birds as they pair 

 off are permitted to go into smaller pens 

 or cages at the sides of the large enclo- 

 sure and there hatch their eggs, the 



