The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-11
THE JEKYL ISLAND CLUB.
ITS SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT
WITH ENGLISH PHEASANTS.
The Preserve Now Well Stocked With
Plump Birds-How They We're
From the New York Times.


notably by Pierre Lorillard at Tuxedo park,
and by William K Vanderbilt at his farm
on Long Island, but in neither case has sue
cess crowned these efforts. owing, perhaps,
to the severity of the climate.
With a view to increasing the stock Of
game but little shooting was allowed until
last winter, when a few deer and turkeys
were bagged, and some quail, of which 5000
were placed on the island the year pre- tious
and have multiplied wonderfully as have
the deer and turkey.
A year ago the club, with view to try
ing the experiment Of propagating the
English pheasant, ordered 100 birds from
England, of which seventy-eight arrived in
good order, and were divided into several
nocks in large Enclosures, in the middle of
which bushes and small trees were placed
to constitute cover or hiding places, as the
pheasant is a very shy bird, and seeks
secluslon at the sight of man, whom he
wisely considers his worst enemy The
birds soon began to lay. Each morning the
gamekeeper whom the birds soon began to
know and tolerate, took the eggs and placed
them under the common barn yard hens.
la due time the little pheasant began to APP
pear, and the hens in blssful Ignorance of
the factrhat they were giving aid and com
fort to lot of lit lie English
aristocrats, proceeded to perform the duty
of good mothers The result was that some
thing over 900 little chicks were Matched
out, successfully raised and turned out to
make their own living in the woods, and at
the end of the laying season the old birds
were also turned loose. The young birds
grew and thrIved well. o wing to the fact
that the percentage of cock birds Matched
were IN excess of requirement, permission
was given by the game committee this last
winter to members to shoot a limited num-
Der to each gun, and some rare sport W
had, although it was q kind of shooting
few of the gentlemen were familiar vita.
Most of them did not take into account the
bullet-like velocity of the flight of this, to
them, new game. The consequence was
generally q fair bag of the long tail
feathers and but few birds.
With view to continuing the expert
ment of raising, and to infuse new blood
into the hatchiug, fifty more birds were or
dered last February, and forty-nue of the
fifty were landed at the island in good
order. With these the same course wa,
pursued and with equal success, inasmuch
As 300 young ones were Matched and are
doing well, showing total result Of nearly
2,0OO birds as the product of two seasons
from total of 1871. The number of eggs
laid by the hens OF the last flock was loo,
but owing t. a strike of the barnyard hens,
or rather from a scarcity of settlers to
be had promptly, and their positively re-
fusing to raise two broods and work
ten hours, all the eggs were
not utilized, and a good many were rem
dered useless by thunderstorms, for even
hens eggs are added and spoiled by thun-
der and lightning, whether by the electric
lty in the atmosphere or the vibration
caused by the thunder has not been ascer-
tanned. 1t is good subject for investga-
ton by the learned sce ltist short of job
Let some one tell us what adde's eggs
the thunder or the lightning Doubtless
many of the old original birds turned out
did littles business on their own account in
their wild state, which, added to the 1000
raised artlhcially, as it were. would Justify
the belief that the Jekyl Island Club has at
present a matter of $500 birds, say, ami
from this time out can bang away with no
fear of reducing the stock as rapidly as the
increase.
1t is the intention of the clubs. however,
another year. to make arrangements in
time for several hundred proper-mindad
hens, and trap and impress into the business
q couple of hundred pheasants and try the
experiment on @ much larger scale. It is
easy to figure from actual results, SO far.
that matter Of 900 birds can be raised in
a season if a sufficient number of hens as
hatchers are procured--which is not at all
fully equal to if not better than common
barnyard fowl product. The results of the
Jekyl Clubs experiment suggests Hew en-
terprise and road to profit and pleasant oc-
cupatton. For game purpose or market s.
a bracs for Christmas dinner would be no
price at all to pay for such beautiful and
toothsome BIRDS The Jelkyl Club has hal
numerous applications for cock pheasants,
and offerings of So each, but it is not quite
ready to go into tue business for profit yet.
When, before long, new steam launch is
wanted, or an addition to the clubhouse be-
comes necessary, the superintendent may
be instructed to sell sufficient number of
birds to put the treasurer In funds. Tha
will be the chance for ambitious pheasant
seekers.
There will be rare sport at the island the
coming season, which commences il
November. For what between deer, wild
turkeys, quail and pheaSants, it will be
shooting as is shooting. Me nbsrs are for
hidden to shoot hen pheasants, and fine Of
So is imposed on any dereliction, u res alu-
ton offered, by the way, by the chairman
of the game committee, who in his furry
was the first man last winter to knock over
a hen by mistake, aud was asked to walk up
to the captains office and settle, which he
did like man
The number of shares constituting mem
bership of the club is 100, all OF which were
taken by a syndicate of fifty, VITA the
privilege Of diSpoSlng OF snare 10 any
friend acceptable to the committee, whica
has increased the number of members to
nearly the full complement, The me uber-
ship consists of many weli-knoNn gentle
men of wealth ana standing of this city,
Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, Judge
Henry E. Rowland being president and N.
r. Fairbanks vics president. The office
of the club is at so Broadway
1t is, perhaps, the richest and most
aristocratlc club in tue United States
for its limited membership, aggre-
eating in wealth of It's members over
$500000,000. There is no attempt at display
or fashion. Its comfortable club house.
charming winter climate, lovely grounds,
and fine drives render it a most enjoyable
winter home for the members and their
families at much less expense than the cost
of living at hotels, and is devoid of the OBJ
jectionable features of hotel life, and as an
additional attraction to the shooting mem
bers it will, at the present rapid increase of
game, soon become one of the largest pre-
| serves, if not the largest, III the United
States.
The only instance of loss of birds was last
spring, when large bear, visitor from a
neighboring island, who had tired of diet
OF pig and coon, concluded to indulge in a
Delmonico dinner of pheasants. He broke
into the coops and ate up about TWENTY-FIVE
Unfortunately, Delmonico was not there to
present the blll, winch would have caused