6 



THE GAME BREEDER 



island where any one can shoot. How 

 much better this is than the prohibition 

 of shooting, and the placing of bob white 

 on the song bird list ! 



Numerous clubs, with small dues, in 

 some cases only $15 per year, look after 

 the game in refuges which are quite 

 "noisy" during the autumn. Good bags 

 of quail ruffed grouse and rabbits are 

 made every season without danger of 

 extinction because the vermin is con- 

 trolled and the game is fed and properly 

 looked after in the winter. The game 

 overflows and the shooting remains good 

 everywhere. It soon would be ended 

 were it not for the activities of many 

 readers of The Game Breeder. 



A Report from Middle Island. 



Mr. H. J. Montanus, of the Middle 

 Island Club (Long Island), has sent an 

 interesting report about how the game 

 is preserved. The gamekeeper, he says, 

 has informed him that there is more 

 game this year than ever before. Some 

 of the early hatched bevies of quail are 

 not very large in numbers owing to ex- 

 ceedingly heavy rains. The rabbits are 

 abundant. The ruffed grouse have fared 

 well, excepting in some places where 

 their nests have been disturbed by sum- 

 mer wood choppers. 



The real cause for the abundance of 

 game on the grounds of the Association, 

 Mr. Montanus says, is the "rounding 

 up" of worthless dogs, cats and other 

 vermin during the breeding season and 

 the planting of grain especially for the 

 birds. "No laws however drastic can 

 make game plentiful if it is not looked 

 after during the hard winter and spring 

 months when sleet and frost cover all 

 food supplies as I described when I told 

 about our feeding 21 covies under such 

 conditions." 



Eight Cats and a Bobtail. 



Tht gamekeeper at Middle Island in 

 his letter to Mr. Montanus said he had 

 destroyed "eight cats and one cur dog" 

 during the last two weeks. He said he 

 was only able to save eight cat tails for 

 the vermin exhibit because one of the 

 cats had no tail. Mr. Montanus wishes 

 to inquire if in our opinion the mother 



of this feline had been associating with 

 a buck rabbit. We have advised him to 

 refer this important matter to the De- 

 partment of Hybrids, U. S. Biological 

 Survey. 



Colorado Dove Shooters and the U. S. 

 Migratory Bird Act. 



Mr. T. C. Beaman, of Denver, Colo., 

 says : "It has been stated that the fed- 

 eral immigration bird law does not oper- 

 ate on dove shooting in Colorado. This 

 is a mistake to a certain extent. Regu- 

 lation 2 provides, 'a daily closed season 

 on all migratory game birds from sunset 

 to sunrise,' to that extent, therefore, the 

 federal act does operate on doves." 



A Conflict of Laws. 



Mr. Beaman says, the federal law 

 makes a closed season on numerous 

 water fowl, shore birds, etc., different 

 from the Colorado laws. "Whether the 

 federal authorities in Colorado," he says, 

 "will undertake to enforce the federal 

 act, notwithstanding the State law, is 

 something about which I am not advised, 

 but as Judge Treber of Arkansas, who 

 first held the federal migratory bird act 

 unconstitutional, is now sitting in the 

 Colorado Federal Court here in place of 

 Judge Lewis, it is not likely he will 

 change his views and convict any person 

 prosecuted here under the federal act." 



Mr. Beaman says a State game officer, 

 who preceded the present incumbent, was 

 advised that the wardens could not aid 

 in enforcing the federal act where con- 

 trary to State laws, without violating 

 their oaths of office which require them 

 to conform to and enforce State laws 

 only. 



The conflict in the laws is deplorable, 

 but the whole matter does not affect the 

 game breeders who have decided that 

 they own the game they produce and 

 that it is not migratory until it may be- 

 come so by leaving the premises of the 

 owner. Then, of course, his interest in 

 it ceases since he can not retake it in 

 replevin. 



Our Game Census. 



Returns coming from our game cen- 

 sus indicate that a big lot of game is 



