The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-01-09
GAME BIRDS HAVE: V !. GREATLY DECREASED
In Fifteen Years This State Has
 Lost 75 Per Cent
Imported Birds Are Now Migrat-
 ing to the South-Restocking
 Gan be Done Best by Raising Native Birds

l Herbert K Job of West Haven the 1 State ornithologist. in his public let ter for January, writes as follows: l The motto of the English and Con tineptal gamekeepers is: "F'or every
 bird you shoot, put back two." The
 result is that they have game in | abundance all the time. Until we do
 something similar, besides, of course, | taking proper care of what wild stock we have left, every passing year will
 see our game birds grow scarcer. Ac- 1 cOrding to a table compiled by Dr. | William T. Hornaday, director of the | New York Geological Park, giving fig | ures for each state of the relative | decrease in bird-life. during recent l period of fifteen years. in that time birds are said to have decreased in | Connecticut 75 per cent, which is the i maximum amount reported by any | state except Florida. This decrease is l notably true of our upland game birds. | At this rate, how much longer shall we have any left, unless we try new methods?
 Under our free institutions we al low anyone to buy a hunters license and in Connecticut issue over 15,OOo of these each year. whereas in Europe the hunting privilege is much restrict- ed. This goes to show that if pro- pagation methods are essential there, they are ever more so with us. Those old-established countries, after cen turies, of experiment have reduced the thing to a science, based upon prac- tical, successful methods of artificial propag gation.
 Our American method has been to allow practically universal hunting. killed off, and then, at the demand of the hunters. who pay licenses for more game to shoot, we buy up birds and release them to be shot. Since it is no longer possible to buy native game
 birds for restocking purposes, we have had imported foreign species-notably Hungarian partridge and pheasants- in hope that some of those would sur
 vive and festock our depleted covers. Various states besides ours have tried
 these experiments, which were well
 worth testing and gave hope and pro-
 mise for good results. gv
 Expert authorities such as the Uni
 ted States biological survey, as voic-
 ed by pr. T. $. Palmer, in charge
 of the game protection for the govern
 ment, now agree and declare that
 nearly all those experiments have
 proved utter failures. Henry Oldys,
 of the biological survey, shows that
 the Hungarian partridge migrates and
 that the costly birds bought by the
 commissions of Northern states are
 enjoyed by the Southern gunners. Tn
 general foreign birds prove nearly
 helpless under the new conditions, and quickly perish. Evidently we are
 on the wrong track. Sportsmen are
 beginning to realize that in .theearti-
 ficia1 propagation of our native game
 birds must lie our main hope
 In Europe they know how success
 fully to breed game-birds, including
 American species, and 1t could be
 of1
 In Belgium, for example, they breed
 our beautiful native American wood
 duck by the thousands and, strange
 to say, when we want wood ducks
 we have to send over there for them.
 They raise game-birds as successful
 ly as We do chickens. Whats the
 matter with us?
 The idea is taking root in this .coun- try. Successful game-far7ns, mostly for private profit, are spring1ng up, nota bly, in the middle West, and a great new and profitable industry is arising. Wild ducks are raised by thousands for sale for all possible pur- poses This is true of pheasant rais- ing, and some are having very fair in- itiaI success with quail, as well as other game. The Massachusetts fish and game commission have been very enterprising They started a small ex- l perimenta1 hatchery and last season raised 400 young quail, enough to prove that they have practically solved the problem. Now they are preparing. to go- into it on a larger scale affd also to xexperiment,.with other game birds l The Springfield Fish and Game As-; sociation, said to be the largest sports mems organization in New England | are taking steps to have(a hatchery | or two of their own.
 Last September I was visiting Pro- | lessor c. F. Hodge of Clark Univer- l sity, Worcester. Mass, discoverer of | the methods of the artificial rearing l of quail and ruffed grouse. In his | garden he showed me a little box coop attached to close mesh wire
 run some eight feet long. In this I run were a. beautiful pair of our fam l iliar bob-whites. accompanied by a l brood of the cutest little chicks of l their own just week old.
 | t"This means,'' said Dr. Hodge, as admired the little family, ''that any
 man with only a city backyard can raise his covey of quail.''
 This is the key to the situation. l Another article later will propose a definite practical plan for state l wide propagation of game-birds in i Connecticut. Meanwhile the writer
 will be glad to correspond with sports mems associations upon the subject.