274 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1918 
BRINGING SPORT WITHIN OUR HORIZON 
TO LOVERS OF WILD GAME WHO WANT TO HAVE IT CLOSE AT HOME THE AUDUBON HOUSE 
AT AMSTON, CONNECTICUT, . ILLUSTRATES HOW THEY MAY ENJOY THEIR HOBBY 
By HERBERT K. JOB. Illustrations by the Author 
Canvasbacks and scaup ducks a-plenty 
E veryone fond of 
wild game knows 
that, even when it 
has not been altogether 
destroyed, it has been 
pushed farther and far¬ 
ther away from us. It is 
increasingly harder and 
more expensive to get 
where it is. Our state of 
mind is like this: “If I 
were only off to Florida, 
Currituck, the Mississippi 
Delta, Alberta, Alaska, or 
some other game para¬ 
dise, I would see some 
real sport again!” A few 
of us, at rare intervals, 
may be able t o attain 
such ideals, but for the 
great majority these are 
located at the end of the 
rainbow. But the thrill 
at the remembrance of 
the bunch of fowl, the 
line of geese, the whir¬ 
ring grouse, remains as 
vivid as ever. The crav¬ 
ing is there to stay, yes, in some ways to 
tantalize. 
This is the underlying reason why the 
game propagation movement is making 
such remarkable strides in America. Hun¬ 
dreds of game-farms and game-breeding 
or game-conserving enterprises are start¬ 
ing up. Just one of these, I notice re¬ 
cently, is advertising to sell this spring 
forty thousand pheasant eggs for setting, 
besides live quail, various kinds of wild 
ducks, and other stock. And who is buy¬ 
ing all this? Thousands of land-holders, 
in every State of the Union, who love 
wild game and want to have it close at 
home within their horizon. 
3 y way of definite illustration as to how 
lovers of wild life may enjoy this hobby 
within easy reach, I will describe a project 
which I am conducting for The National 
Association of Audubon Societies, through 
its “Department of Applied Ornithology” 
which was organized in 1914 for the pur- 
The Audubon house at Amston 
pose of instructing and interesting the 
public in practical measures for the con¬ 
servation of wild birds and game, including 
propagation methods or “game-farming.” 
A prominent and busy manufacturer, 
Charles M. Ams, of New York City, hap¬ 
pened upon my published Manual, “The 
Propagation of Wild Birds.” He owns a 
great tract of land and ponds in eastern 
Connecticut, and thought it would be a 
good place to carry out the plans described 
of breeding wild ducks. Upon investiga¬ 
tion I found quite ideal conditions—a 
tract of three or four square miles of 
splendid game country, a gem of a lake 
over a mile long, and smaller ponds and 
streams. The outcome of it has been that 
Mr. Ams has generously given the free 
use of this property, representing an in¬ 
vestment of over quarter of a million dol¬ 
lars, to The National Association of Au¬ 
dubon Societies as an ornithological ex¬ 
periment and demonstration station to 
show what can be done in practical ways 
to increase wild birds and game. 
THe first thing we did was to organize a 
model experiment in the propagation of 
wild ducks. There was just the needed 
site, a small pond made by a constant 
flowing from the large lake, surrounded 
by swamp and wild land. This we sur¬ 
rounded by a seven-foot wire fence, ver¬ 
min-proof, including about as much land 
as water, three to four acres in all. This 
is just the ideal size, large enough to 
make the ducks feel free and safe, yet not 
so large that the stock cannot be under 
control. Then I scoured about for breed¬ 
ing-stock among the dealers of the coun¬ 
try, and by the following spring had 
fifteen species in the pond, namely,—can- 
vasback, redhead, ring-necked duck, great¬ 
er and lesser scaup, wood duck, black 
duck, wild mallard, pintail, 
baldpate, gadwall, blue¬ 
winged and green-winged 
teals, mandarin duck, and 
coot or mud-hen. These 
were wild-trapped birds, 
and were pinioned. 
A most ’vital problem 
was how to winter them. 
Some owners leave the 
stock out all winter, keep¬ 
ing an open hole in the ice; 
others drive the ducks into 
a shed or house. There 
are grave disadvantages 
to these plans, especially 
with delicate species and 
the diving varieties. Hun¬ 
gry owls and hawks work 
havoc among those left 
outdoors. Starting with 
the basal idea of a floating 
house tried by John Hey- 
wood, I have worked out 
an ideal arrangement in 
the shape of an aquatic 
house built out in the 
pond a little way from 
shore. Ours is 24 x 16 feet, of simple 
construction, shingled, built on posts, and 
facing south. The front consists of four 
large frame windows sloping backward, 
and there is one upright window on the 
west side. Two-thirds of the interior is a 
swimming-pool, the rest a platform on 
which the ducks feed and dry their plum¬ 
age. This slopes down into the water and 
then is boarded solid to the bottom, so 
that ducks cannot get under it to hide.- If 
the pond cannot be drained during building 
operations, boards from the frame at 
We raised a brood of California quail 
