182 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Grouse, no doubt, would cost at least $8 

 or $10 per pair. Quail have been selling 

 readily at $150 to $200 per hundred, and 

 even higher prices have been obtained 

 recently. 



An interesting experiment can be made 

 with a few grouse and a few quail and 

 ducks on a place where the covers and 

 foods still occur and where additional 

 foods can be planted. The hawks, 

 crows, snakes and many other natural 

 enemies will prevent any very rapid in- 

 crease of the birds if these enemies be 

 not persistently destroyed. The ground 

 should be patrolled daily by one who can 

 shoot well and it should be thoroughly 

 trapped at the proper seasons by a skilled 

 trapper. I know some young farmers 

 who have made a good start with wild 

 ducks and in States where it is legal to 

 sell grouse and quail these birds will 

 bring much better prices than most of 

 the common wild ducks and they can be 

 produced at a much smaller expense. I 

 hope it will not be long before a syndi- 

 cate or club is formed to produce prairie 

 grouse for the shooting. This is the 

 surest and best road to success, since the 

 money for the gamekeeper's wages and 

 for the other expenses is realized from 

 initiation fees and annual dues. I firmly 

 believe that a good grouse club operated 

 on lands such as I have described, with 

 one or more gamekeepers would soon 

 have excellent shooting and that it might 

 sell enough game to pay all the expenses 

 and declare a dividend on the stock. 

 This so long as grouse continue to sell 

 for $10 or more per pair and quail for 

 $18 to $25 per dozen. Certainly there 

 should be big profits in breeding birds 

 in a wild state in places where they will 

 require very little artificial food. It will 

 not be long before some important ex- 

 periments with the grouse are made by 

 members of the Game Conservation So- 

 ciety. Those who get into the game first 

 will make the most money. If lands i; 

 rented at a low price for the shooting 

 with a privilege of purchase it is abso- 

 lutely certain the lands will be worth 

 many times the purchase price agreed 

 upon as soon as the grouse again becomes 

 abundant. Such increases in land values 

 were common in Scotland after grouse 



preserving was undertaken. The shoot- 

 ing rentals now seem fabulous as they 

 are published in the English papers dur- 

 ing the renting season. Many Americans 

 visit these places. They surely will be 

 prepared to rent and buy shooting lands 

 in America in States where breeding 

 game is not an illegal industry. Kansas, 

 Nebraska and some other States shouk 1 

 be avoided. Oklahoma and Indiana are 

 probably the most liberal States for 

 breeding grouse where they still occur. 

 I predict before long it will not be a 

 criminal offense to breed grouse profit- 

 ably in Kentucky and in Ohio and in fact 

 anywhere in the United States. An ab- 

 surdity rapidly is being removed from 

 the statutes since the "more game" move- 

 ment was started by the readers of The 

 Game Breeder. 



Elliott concludes his chapter on the 

 prairie grouse with the statement that, 

 "The inevitable day will surely come 

 that will bring the same fate to all 

 of our wild creatures, and the prairie 

 chicken, like other natives of the -wil- 

 derness, will remain only as a mem- 

 ory." This prediction evidently was ac- 

 curate until the laws were amended so 

 as to permit the profitable production 

 of grouse. Now we may safely predic 

 that these. birds in a few years will be- 

 come tremendously abundant and profit- 

 able, and that they will remain so be- 

 cause it will pay to look after them and 

 increase their numbers. 



Quail or Partridge? 



As regards the misnomer "quail," so 

 general of the Virginia "partridge," the 

 advocates of the appellation, "quail," 

 may say the bird is not a partridge, 

 which it may not be technically and sci- 

 entifically, but it certainly resembles the 

 European partridge more than it does the 

 European quail. 



And the fact of its being strictly a 

 non-migrant, as is the European part- 

 ridge, whereas the European quail is a 

 decided one, is, I think, conclusive that 

 the term quail is incorrect, as applied to 

 our bird, and that, as Audubon says, "the 

 appellation of partridge is more appro- 

 priate." — J. J. Pringle. 



