THE GAME BREEDER 



127 



Jersey State Game Commission. In 

 pointing out that they seldom made ar- 

 rests in his state he invited the society 

 to hold its next banquet in New Jersey 

 and said the members could eat wild tur- 

 keys produced by the industry of breed- 

 ers in safety, promising again to attend 

 the dinner. 



We had long known that New Jersey 

 had a capable game commission and an 

 able and popular chairman. The trouble 

 in New Jersey, as in some other states, 

 is not with the game officers sworn to 

 do their duty, but with the "fool laws" 

 they are obliged to execute. 



New Jersey is especially afflicted with 

 the old fashioned, rotten moiety system 

 which encourages informers to seek their 

 share of the ridiculously high fines 

 which seem to have been provided for 

 their benefit. 



Mr. Napier was a popular figure at 

 the dinner where he met many old 

 friends and made some new ones. 



Correspondence. 



I wish to again congratulate you on 

 the great success of your banquet and 

 meeting on Tuesday night. While I did 

 not arrive in time to break bread with 

 you, I did hear all of the discussion "and 

 considered it a very valuable contribu- 

 tion to the cause. 



If we in Massachusetts can be of any 

 help to you in carrying on the work, 

 please command us. 



With best wishes for your continued 

 prosperity, I am, Very truly yours, 

 William C. Adams. 



Game Commissioner Massachusetts. 



Editor Game Breeder: 



During 1912 I bought a number of 

 wood ducks together with some widgeons 

 and pin-tails, and put them into a large 

 pond on my father's place in New Jer- 

 sey. They were bought merely as orna- 

 mental water fowl and with no intention 

 of selling. A few mallards, which we 

 already had there, we ate during the 

 game season. We have now raised so 

 many mallards that it would seem best 



to sell them, and we applied for a game 

 breeder's license, which we expect to re- 

 ceive shortly. On a recent reading of 

 the game law of New Jersey we get the 

 impression that to have had this breeding 

 stock in our possession without a license 

 was illegal, even though we had no inten- 

 tion of selling. Also, inasmuch as it 

 seems to be illegal to kill or to sell wood 

 ducks at any time, we also get the im- 

 pression that it is illegal to have wood 

 ducks in our possession, even though we 

 had a breeder's license. 



If this is so, we want to dispose of 

 our wood ducks, and as we cannot kill 

 them or sell them in the State, or trans- 

 port them out of the State, and as they 

 are pinioned so that we cannot let them 

 fly away, we would like to inquire what 

 one can do with such creatures if it is 

 against the law to possess them. 



I should also particularly like to know 

 whether it is illegal to possess out of 

 season fowl which are never in season, 

 such as wood ducks owned purely for 

 ornamental purposes. We cannot pre- 

 vent their increasing by themselves, and 

 if we do not help them by hatching their 

 eggs under chickens the rats and turtles 

 destroy the young. 



We have also a couple of swans in the 

 pond, but I presume that is nothing to 

 worry about in their case. 



If you can tell me what we should do 

 in the matter in order to comply with the 

 law, I should very much appreciate it. 



A. C. F. 



New York. 



We are pleased to observe there has been 

 "a revolution of thought and a revival of com- 

 mon sense," since the dean of sportsmen, in 

 another letter to The Game Breeder, men- 

 tioned this important matter. We believe it 

 is now safe to let the wood ducks live and 

 swim about and breed. We hope it will not 

 be long before you can shoot and eat these 

 delicious food birds and sell some of them, if 

 you wish to do so, to help pay the food bill. 



A few years ago we would have advised 

 you to put the wood-ducks in the furnace 

 some dark, stormy night, when no game 

 wardens were out, and to destroy the evidence 

 of your crime. The effect of the game laws 

 was then to "protect the game off the face of 

 the earth," as the eminent naturalist, Dr. 

 Shufeldt. pointed out in a letter which we pub- 

 lished. — Editor. 



