fltbolcopolb G u  5 IDI 
 
VOL. XXXIV                   APRIL 1930                         No. 4 
 
Survey of the Field 
 
The Literary Digest brings togeth- 
er a trio of news items for the bill 
of fare thus: 
For the first time since his long 
illness began, King   George  today 
partook of game which he had shot 
himself. The game for his dinner to- 
night came from   his first day  of 
shooting, during  which  he bagged 
six brace of peasants. - New York 
Times. 
Neat, quick girl wanted for (lunch. 
-San Diego Union. 
This reminds us of a very old one 
about Mission.Wes ai-   Cannibal: 
He dined on Missionaries cold and 
raw. 
He never took less at a meal than 
four, 
The King of the Cannibal Islands. 
The Literary Digest tells us: 
The United States becomes the ow- 
ner of the Turtle Islands, a  small 
group between the Philippine Islands 
and North Borneo, under a treaty with 
the British Government signed at the 
Stat e Department. About 200 inhabi- 
tants are added to the American popu- 
lation. 
If the turtles be snappers the new- 
ly acquired Islands are    not  very 
suitable for the new industry-game 
breeding. 
A special dispatch to the Sun, N. 
Y. says: 
The   Washington   Evening    Star 
which  with other newspapers and 
Government officials has been inter- 
ested and concerned in obliterating 
the pest of bird rookeries established 
along  Pennsyilvania  Avenue in the 
sycamore trees and in the eaves over 
the facades of buildings, advances a 
new idea for control or intimidation 
of English starlings. 
The idea or suggestion was prompt- 
ed by a story in The Sun detailing var- 
ious features in the warfare between 
officialdom and the birds. The Star 
printed the following editorial: 
,'The starling problem presents it- 
self as one upon which all possible 
light should be shed. For that rea- 
 
son the Star presents herewith the 
text of a communication received by 
Washington Board of Trade from     a 
sympathetic gentleman in    Hillburn, 
Rockland county, N. Y. Attaching a 
,clipping to his letter, the  clipping 
being from The New York Sun. which 
devoted some space to a discussion of 
the capital's plight, the correspondent 
writes: 
" 'Dear Sirs: Try a few Roman can- 
dles. About an hour after dark. It 
worked 100 per cent for us.' 
Obviously   Roman   candles   would 
shed at least some of the "all possi- 
ble light" vhich  the  iSun   thinks 
"should be shed    on   the   starling 
problem!. 
MORE TROUT 
A special dispatch to the Wbrld, 
from Albany, N. Y. says there are 
now fifty-seven trout hatcheries in 
the state. 
These are engaged in the artificial 
propagation of trout, and twenty-four 
possess machines, to tag trout for con- 
sumption. Hatcheries not possessing 
tagging machines are engaged in pro- 
pagating trout for stocking purposes. 
Tagging machines are used to place 
metal tags on the tails of all trout 
sold for food   purposes. These are 
placed on the tails as a means of Iden- 
tification and to distinguish the fish 
from wild trout, the sale of which is 
at ail times prohibited by the State. 
There were 336,500 trout, not any 
of which were less than six inches in 
length, sold for consuniption by  the 
twenty-four hatcheries holding tag- 
ging machines. 
Not very many years ago the sale 
of trout was prohibited by law at 
all seasons. At a convention of New 
York sportsmen, Mr. Vert, the owner 
of a trout hatchery, introduced and 
iged the passage     of a resolution 
permitting the sale of    trout.  The 
late Doctor Dutcher, the President of 
the Audubon Society,    opposed   the 
 
resolution in a vigorous and earnest 
apeech. He told the delegates that 
if they passed that resolution it would 
not be a year before some one ap- 
peared asking that the law be amend- 
ed so as to permit the sale of "our 
feathered friends." There was consid- 
erable disorderly opposition. The res- 
olution was voted down. The following 
day the resolution was offered again 
and passed. A   esale of trout 
legal. 
INBREEDING 
Robert Butler writing from   Louis- 
iana to Outdoor Life says: 
It has long been a theory   among 
sportsmen and others that to add 
vigor and numbers to the species, bob- 
white quail should be "thinned out," 
that Is to say, the coveys reduced to 
only a few individuals each season. 
Believing  the  premise to be false, 
and convinced that ten    pairs will 
produce probably ten times as many 
offspring as one pair, the matter has 
been put to a test. There were six or 
seven coveys on the land when all 
shooting of this game bird was stop- 
ped. Their natural enemies such as 
hawks, owls, crows, and snakes have 
been kept down. 
The topography, cover, and food are 
al that are to be desired, cotton and 
cornfields, meadows, and almost im- 
penetrable Chickasaw briar hedges-- 
favorite nesting places. Gently rolling 
hills give drainage. Japan clover (Les- 
pedeza Striata) furnishes a much rel- 
ished food. The place of 300 acres had 
on it last year fifteen covies, ranging 
in size from six to fifteen and twenty- 
five birds: 
Some believe that in-breeding or the 
breeding of closely related individuals 
is harmful and is prevented by thin- 
ning out the covies. On areas where 
there is no shooting vermin unquestion- 
ably reduces the size of the covies 
and  checks the undue increase in 
numbers. Darwin says even the slow