Page 395 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

BREEDING GAME AND FUR IN CAPTIVITY
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and tractable disposition. It can not live in a country where the tem- peraturegoesdownto25°F.andremainsthereforlongperiods. Itwould, I am firmly convinced, do well all along the Gulf coast, and if acclimatized along the Gulf, with the lapse of time and generations it would become more and more hardy, grow more hair, and push its way northward, untilitreachedthelatitudeofTennessee. Butthen,inawildstateit couldnotbeprotectedfrompoachers. Asstatedelsewhere.Dr.RayV. Pierce has successfully acclimatized and bred this species in his St. Vincent Island game preserve, near Apalachicola, Florida. More than that, the species has crossed with the white-tailed deer of the Island.
Living specimen of the Indian Sambar deer are worth from $125 to $250, according to size and other conditions. Just at present it seems difficult for Americans to procure a sufficient number of males! We have had very bad luck with several males that we attempted to im- port for breeding purposes.
The Mallard Duck.—A great many persons have made pensistent attempts to breed the canvasback, redhead, mallard, black duck, pintail, teal and other species, on a commercial basis. So far as I am aware the mallard is the only wild duck that has been bred in sufficient numbers toslaughterforthemarkets. Thewoodduckandmandarincanbebred in fair numbers, but only sufficient to supply the demand for living birds, forparkpurposes. Onewouldnaturallysupposethataspeciesasclosely allied to the mallard as the black duck is known to be, would breed like the mallard; but the black duck is so timid and nervous about nesting as to be almost worthless in captivity. All the species named above, except the mallard, must at present, and in general, be regarded as failures in breeding for the market.
Of all American ducks the common mallard is the most persistent andsuccessfulbreeder. Itquicklybecomesaccustomedtocaptivity,it enjoys park life, and when given even half a chance it will breed and rear its young.
Unquestionably, the mallard duck can be reared in captivity in numbers limited only by the extent of breeder's facilities. The amount of net profit that can be realized depends wholly upon the business acu- men and judgment displayed in the management of the flock. The total amount of knowledge necessary to success is not so very great, but at the same time, the exercise of a fair amount of intelligence, and also careful diligence, is absolutely necessary. Naturally the care and food of the flock must not cost extravagantly, or the profits will inevitably disappear.
As a contribution to the cause of game-breeding for the inarket, and the creation of a new industry of value, Mr. L. S. Crandall and the author wrote for the New York State Conservation Commission a pamphlet on "Breeding Mallard Ducks for Market." Copies of it can be procured of our State Conservation Commission at Albany, by enclosing ten cents in stamps.