The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-28
CONNECTICUT GAME PRE-

SERVE.
 Bird-Lore fom May and June, edited
 by Frank M. Chapman, author oi
 "Bird-Life," Handbook of Birds of
 Eastern North America" Bird Stud
 ies with a Camera" etc, is 8 delight
 full number, maintaining the high repu-
 tation of the excellent magazine. In
 it's Audubon department is an article
 of especial interest in New Haven, by | Willard Van Name, of our city, rela-
 tive to "A Connecticut Game Pre-
 serye," the honor of establishing which belongs to our well known townsman,
 E. Knight Sperry. The article, which
 we publish through the courtesy of the
 editor of Bird-Lore, is as follows:
 For q number of years past there has
 been maintained in the town of Hamp-
 ton, in Windham county, Connecticut,
 a game preserve, which has features
 of unusual interest, not only for sports
 men, but for all concerned in bird pro-
 lection.
 Obviously, a preserve which is to be a
 useful agent in the work of game pro-
 lection, and is intended to make up in
 some degree for the short comings of the game laws, must be based upon less
 selfish motives than the sportsman s
 preserve of the ordinary kind. It must
 provide a refuge and suitable breeding | ground for the birds, and not simply
 protect them from one man in order
 that another may kill them.
 Such preserves are more often advo-
 cated on paper than tried In reality, | To in
 volve such large outlay for land and
 maintenance and to offer so little bene- 1 fit in return, that they are held to be 1 far beyond all possibility of attainment. l The preserve which is here described Is of interest, as it shows how far wrong this assumption is, and how an almost ideal game preserve, on con- siderable scale, was established through the efforts of one man, MT. D. Knight Sperry of New Haven, with so little difficulty that there Is the best of hope that 1t can and will be initia- ted elsewhere; and with a degree of success that was far in advance of the most sanguine of those who watched the experiment.
 This preserve comprises between one and two square miles of farm and woodland, and includes small stream. The ownership of this property Is dis tributed among seven or eight people, who have granted Mr. Sperry the right to preserve the game on their farms, on condition that he would not shoot there himself, and would bear the ex- pense of posting the land with the ne- cessary signs forbidding hunting, and would stock the grounds with birds. The land owners, on their part agreed to do no shooting on their lands and to allow no others to shoot there As they live on the farms they are able to en- force this prohibition without much difficulty, and the expense of watching the preserve is thus practically nothing.
 The chief item of expense was to pro- cure and post the signs forbidding hunting These were stenciled upon boards one foot square. About sixty signs were put up. The cost of these is not recorded.
 Though there are a considerable num- Der of cartridges on the preserve, the principal game birds are quail. Each year about two dozen of these birds, costing seven or eight dollars for the lot. have been liberated on the grounds. The birds have been obtained from one of the northwestern states. as southern birds do not endure the climate well and either migrate or die off during the winter,
 In order to be a success, a game pre- serve must, first of all, provide food for the birds or they will not be able to re- main there. The natural resources or the land are generally sufficient to SUD- port the birds during the summer months. but in wint CT the case Is differ | ent and if large bird population is to | be supported with such liberality that | they will not be driven to forage else | where, some additional food supply | must be provided at that season. This | has been done by planting each year a couple of small patches of wheat or which is left to go to seed, and as the stalks of the plants project | above the snow in winter the birds are able to find the food at all times and are kept In good condition, even In the severest weather
 There have been no other expenses worth mentioning. The total cost has been so small both for starting and keeping up the work that the sum ne- cessary could be raised without much difficulty by subscription among the snortsmen of even the smallest towns, if they could be convinced of the ad- vantage of such work. The results which MT Sperry has attained are no less interesting than his methods
 It is now about seven years since the plan was put in operation, but only small part of this period has elapsed before the effects of the experiment be- gan to be apparent As would be ex- pected the birds soon became very abundant on the preserve, but 1t is by the effect on the number of birds in the country that the practical utility of the work must be judged, as 10 shooting is allowed on the preserve tself. The best evidence on this point s the opinion of the people living in he vicinity. With them the preserve & decidedly In favor; in no case has J inv land d-owner withdrawn from the | agreement though 1t Is a purely volun- { ary one. which can be broken off at my time. On the contrary, another person has recently become a party to f thus increasing the original area. The birds have increased to such an ex- ent that they have spread to the sur ] country, and now furnish 1 rood shooting on lands where there i uare varv few birds when the preserve