e know can
not be bred and reared in confinement in marketable numbers? For
example, if we may judge by the numerous experiments that _thus far_
have been made,--as we certainly have a right to do,--no man can
successfully breed and rear in captivity, on a commercial basis, the
canvasback duck, teal, pintail duck, ruffed grouse or quail. This being
the case, no amount of clamor from game dealers and their allies ever
should induce any state legislature to provide for the sale of any of
those species _until it has been fully demonstrated_ that they _have
been_ and _can be_ bred in captivity in large numbers. The moment the
markets of a state are thrown open to these impossible species, from
that moment the state game wardens must make a continuous struggle to
prevent the importation and sale of those birds contrary to law. This
proposition is so simple that every honest man can see it.

All that any state legislature may rightfully be asked to do is to
provide for the sale, under tags, of those species which _we know_ can
be bred in captivity in large numbers.

When the Bayne law was drafted, its authors considered with the utmost
care the possibilities in the breeding of game in the United States on a
commercial basis. It was found that as yet only two wild native species
have been, and can be, reared in captivity on a large scale. These are
the white-tailed deer and mallard duck. Of foreign species we can breed
successfully for market the fallow deer, red deer of Europe and some of
the pheasants of the old world. For the rearing, killing and marketing
of all these, the Bayne law provides the simplest processes of state
supervision that the best game protectors and game breeders of New York
could devise. The tagging system is expeditious, cheap and effective.
Practically the only real concession that is required of the
game-breeder concerns the killing, which must be done in a systematic
way, whereby a state game warden can visit the breeder's premises and
affix the tags without any serious sacrifice of time or convenience on
either side. The tags cost the breeder five cents each, and they pay the
cost of the services rendered by the state.

By this admirable system, which is very plainly set forth in the New
York Conservation Commission's book of game laws, all the _wild_ game of
New York, _and of every other state_, is absolutely protected at all
times against illegal killing and illegal importation for the New York