162 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
March, 1918 
delegate. Every state game commission 
should be represented Write Mr. E. A. 
Quarles, 2271 Woolworth Building, for 
particulars. 
The office holders and legislators must be 
shown that the American people will toler¬ 
ate no profiteering with their wild life. 
SAVE THE BREEDING STOCK 
EADING conservation organizations 
whose activities are national in scope 
have appointed a Joint Committee to wage 
a persistent, constructive campaign against 
the commercial dealer in game and the 
large hotels who are conducting a nation¬ 
wide propaganda designed to impair the 
conservation laws on the plea that the 
food supply problem justifies such action. 
A national conference which will con¬ 
sider the protection of wild life in its re¬ 
lation to the food supply has been called 
by the Joint Committee for March 4 and 5 - 
It will be held in connection with the 
Fourth National Conference of the Ameri¬ 
can Game Protective Association. The fol¬ 
lowing classes of Representative organiza¬ 
tions vitally interested in the preserving of 
the nation’s breeding stock of game have 
been invited to send delegates to the Con¬ 
ference : 
1. All national wild life protective asso¬ 
ciations. 
2. All state Audubon societies. 
3. All state sportsmen’s associations. 
4. All state fish and game commissions. 
5. All national agricultural societies. 
6. The United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, the U. S. Food Administration, the 
U. S. Forestry Service, the Bureau of Bio¬ 
logical Survey, and the Bureau of Fish¬ 
eries. 
7. The Agricultural Schools of the coun¬ 
try . 
COMMITTEE IS REPRESENTATIVE 
HE Joint Committee responsible for 
the conference came into being at a 
meeting called by the American Game Pro¬ 
tective Association to consider the advis¬ 
ability of concerted action by conserva¬ 
tionists to oppose the insidious propaganda 
that is being so persistently carried on. The 
opinion was unanimous that a nation-wide 
campaign to combat those seeking to wipe 
out the breeding stock of game under the 
false plea of national necessity should be 
instituted forthwith, and the forthcoming 
conference was decided upon as one of 
many measures designed to make the cam¬ 
paign effective. The personnel of the Joint 
Committee, all of whose members attended 
the meeting and committed the organiza¬ 
tions they represent to whole-hearted sup¬ 
port of the campaign, follows: 
Ottomar H. VanNorden, Chairman Long 
Island Wild Life Protective Association. 
George Bird Grinnell, Boone & Crockett 
Club. 
William T. Hornaday, Permanent Wild 
Life Protective Fund. 
T. Gilbert Pearson, National Association 
of Audubon Societies. 
William B. Greely, Camp Fire Club. 
H. B. Culver, New York Forest, Fish 
and Game League. 
William B. Boulton American Game Pro¬ 
tective Association. 
This committee will have complete charge 
of the forthcoming conference and of all 
activities in the national campaign to save 
our wild life from the designs of those 
who would imperil its existence. 
WHY SAVE THE GAME? 
HOSE responsible for the movement 
described above feel that, with the 
country at war, it is the patriotic duty of 
every citizen to co-operate with the federal 
and state goverments in their efforts to 
conserve the food supply for ourselves and 
our allies. They point to the undoubted 
fact that the normal increase of our game 
mammals and birds is already being util¬ 
ized to the fullest extent compatible with 
preserving the species. They further main¬ 
tain that it is as much a national duty to 
safeguard the breeding stock of game as a 
source of continuing supply to the nation’s 
food store in the lean years ahead as it is 
to keep from annihilation other livestock, 
such as cattle and sheep. 
Should the proposals that are so per¬ 
sistently being made at present carry, the 
country’s entire stock of game would prob¬ 
ably be wiped out within two years. The 
game dealers, as in days gone by, would 
send their hired men into the covers with 
orders to shoot to the last individual and 
the product of their guns would go, not to 
the poor man but to the epicure who dines 
at expensive hotels and relishes his wild 
duck, quail and venison and is willing and 
able to pay war prices to satisfy his appe¬ 
tite. Furthermore, the entire stock of 
game in this country would hardly furnish 
a single meal to each citizen. 
The farmer has much at stake in this 
matter. With our game gone, the $3,500,- 
000 which sportsmen pay annually in hunt¬ 
ing license fees would go too, and the vigi¬ 
lant wardens who now keep down the dep¬ 
redations of aliens on our insect and weed 
seed destroying birds could no longer be 
maintained. 
RABBITS AS A FOOD SUPPLY 
HE German hare is a game animal 
which seems to have had less consid¬ 
eration from American sportsmen than he 
deserves. This animal was introduced by 
Mr. Charles F. Dieterich approximately 
twenty year ago, and it is his opinion that 
they are far superior in weight, sporting 
qualities and flavor of meat to the cotton¬ 
tail or snowshoe. He is, however, some¬ 
times destructive to trees, fruit trees espe¬ 
cially, and this should be borne in mind by 
any one contemplating his introduction to 
game covers. 
So far as we are informed, the German 
hare has been established in this country 
only in New York and Massachusetts, and 
in those states his range is highly restricted. 
Mr. J. J. Reams illustrates the excellent 
sporting qualities of the German hare. 
“I think,” says he, “that the snowshoe 
and cottontail are pretty tame hunting 
compared with the German hare. The 
latter will jump from 15 to 20 feet. G'ne 
dog I tried would find a track, bark and 
then dig through the snow thinking to 
find his game. The jumps were so long 
that he thought he had his quarry holed. 
“After several of us had tried out the 
German hare at Red Hook we raised a 
fund for the purchase of animals to stock 
our part of the country. We did this 
with some trepidation, as we had tried out 
the jack rabbit similarly in 1907 without 
success. Our sportsmen friends at Red 
Hook thought they could trap enough hares 
for our purpose, but this proved a failure. 
We then purchased from the William Bar¬ 
tels Co., 50 Cortlandt street, New York 
City, for $100 enough hares for our pur¬ 
pose. They came about January 1. We 
had nearly four feet of snow on the level 
at that time, so we placed them in a yard 
back of my store, about 20 x 30 feet in 
area. I provided this with good cover and 
supplemented this with evergreen trees 
stuck in the snow. 
“Alfalfa was purchased, and this and oats 
and carrots were fed to the captives regu¬ 
larly. They got very fat and weighed from 
fifteen to eighteen pounds each when we put 
them out, on March 28. The snow was 
gone then and we did not lose a single hare. 
I think these hares could be easily bred in 
captivity. We put out only twelve, and the 
first winter there were thirty shot and the 
second fifty were killed. This winter there 
have been more than 100 killed and the 
killing has been done mostly by men who 
did not contribute one cent to the cost of 
introducing these desirable animals. We 
believe, however, that the species cannot be 
exterminated now. 
“The farmers state that they have not sus¬ 
tained half the damage from the German 
hare that they are accustomed to bear from 
the little cottontail. They are doing what 
they can to protect the hares, which fre¬ 
quently come to back jmrds for potato par¬ 
ings or other food thrown out to them. 
“This hare has a very thick hide, much 
heavier than that of the muskrat, and the 
fur is valuable. It is used in making the 
best grade of men’s hats and has been im¬ 
ported in large quantities from foreign 
countries by the hat makers here. 
“It takes the best of hounds to trail the 
German hare as they will run stone walls 
and well-traveled road to throw off their 
pursuers. I have seen them run on a road 
back and forth and then jump off and watch 
the hounds pursue them, waiting sometimes 
not more than five rods from where the 
dogs are working. If they hunted close 
with a hound they will lead off sometimes 
six or seven miles before they come back, 
and if the dog loses them you can straighten 
him out. I would certainly advise sports¬ 
men’s organizations to stock these hares. 
“In 1915 we liberated fifty snowshoe rab¬ 
bits which we received from Maine. The 
snowshoe is inferior to our native rabbit. 
I would rather liberate one pair of German 
hares than fifty pairs of snowshoe. I 
shall gladly give further information to 
any one thinking of stocking these hares.” 
CAN THIS ASSOCIATION HELP YOU ? 
LL those interested in sport should bear 
in mind that the American Game Pro¬ 
tective Association stands ready at all times 
to aid in every possible way, with its force 
of trained men, all state fish and game com¬ 
missions, sportsmen’s organizations and 
sportsmen’s publications. There is in the 
files of this Association invaluable informa¬ 
tion on almost all subjects relating to sport, 
protective laws, organization of sportsmen, 
game breeding, game preserving and the 
various other major problems involved in 
the movement to secure more game. 
