

THE GAME BREEDER 



175 



the following from the Press, N. Y., 

 seems to be the high limit for eggs. 



The Press says : 



Persons who have been wailing at paying 60 



cents a dozen for eggs are hereby given free 



and full permission to faint, for Mrs. Robert 



" Gilfort, of Main street and Essex avenue, sold 



•an egg to-day for $1,000 ! 



Tis not a hen's egg, however. It is an egg 

 •of the Aepyornis, more commonly known as 

 the roc, the giant bird which Sindbad the 

 Sailor, the original Doc Cook, pressed into 

 service as an elevator when he was marooned 

 in the Valley of Diamonds. It is one of three 

 roc eggs in the United States, the others being 

 in the Smithsonian Institution and in a mu- 

 seum in Pittsburgh. The one which Mrs. 

 ■Gilfort sold to-day will be placed in the Denver 

 Museum. 



The egg is quite sizable, measuring thirty- 

 five and a half inches at its point of maximum 

 circumference, having a diameter of about ten 

 inches and weighing about five pounds. Robert 

 Gilfort, an old circus man, found the egg in a 

 stream in Madagascar, where fossil remains of 

 the roc have been unearthed. 



Bon Mots from Judge Beaman's Brief. 



The brief of Judge Daniel C. Beaman, 

 of Colorado, filed in the United States 

 Supreme Court in opposition to the va- 

 lidity of the Federal Migratory Bird Act, 

 is reviewed on another page. Referring 

 to the briefs in favor of the act, Judge 

 Beaman says : "The laws from feudal 

 times down to interstate commerce are 

 •cited. The only suggestion of import- 

 ance they have failed to make on the 

 commerce point is as to the storks which 

 have generally been known as 'common 

 carriers' of babies. 



"The European war it is asserted dem- 

 onstrated that success in war depended 

 less on military efficiency than upon 

 power to wear out the enemy until the 

 food resources were exhausted. 



"Hence," says Judge Beaman, "I sup- 

 pose Congress deemed it the acme of 

 wisdom to have a closed season on mud 

 hens, while leaving the season open on 

 American citizens in Mexico." 



Another Conservation Society. 



A reader sends a clipping, from the 

 N. Y. Sun, which says the superintend- 

 ent of the N. Y. Zoo proposes to start 

 a conservation society to save the wild 

 flowers, trees and game animals. Imita- 

 tion is said to be the sincerest flattery 



and we are pleased at the idea of a 

 brand new conservation society. We 

 hope the four members named in the 

 clipping will all attend the game dinners 

 of the Game Conservation Society and 

 learn how game rapidly can be and is 

 made abundant by eating it in abund- 

 ance. We extend an invitation for them 

 to attend all of our dinners where we 

 hope to serve game big and small with- 

 out police interference. All we ask is 

 that game producers be exempt from 

 the laws which are intended to save the 

 wild game not owned by game breeders. 



The Law for Half-breeds. 



If it is true (and it no doubt is) that 

 none of the game breeders have true 

 wild mallards, undoubtedly they are ex- 

 empt from the game laws and can shoot 

 and sell their game in any season without 

 fear of the police. This is as it should 

 be. People who have Plymouth rock 

 hens and other fowl which undoubtedly 

 are descendants of wild birds are not 

 jailed for selling the food they produce. 

 Possibly one who sells a half-wild tur- 

 key might be kept half in and half out 

 of jail or only in part time to satisfy 

 what are commonly known as "fool 

 laws." 



The Moss Grown Plank 



For forty-three years — more than a 

 generation, Forest and Stream says it 

 has "fought the battle of game and fish 

 conservation in this country * * * 

 Twenty years ago Forest and Stream 

 announced its famous platform plank, 

 'The sale of game should be forbidden 

 at all times.' We all know what has hap- 

 pened in the twenty years that have 

 passed." 



We do. Within the period named 

 shot-guns were commonly sold and used 

 for quail shooting in Ohio and many 

 other states where game was plentiful. 

 Many sportsmen owned setters and 

 pointers and advertisements for the sale 

 of these dogs appeared numerously in 

 Forest and .Stream and other sporting 

 papers. Not a gun can now be fired 

 legally at a quail ; not a quail dog is used 

 in the entire state of Ohio, and the 



