66 



=^^ 



Mr. L. H. Darwin, state game warden, writes from Seattle: 



I beg to advise you that the Chinese pheasant {Phasianus tor- 

 quatus) is the one which is found in the State of Washington. 

 These birds are imported direct from China, thrive beautifully on 

 this coast, and have never been observed to cross with any of the 

 other species, although other species are to be found in this state, 

 having, likewise, been imported. 



We have several pheasantries in this state and in Oregon, 

 which are engaged in the work of propagating this species, but the 

 protection afforded them by the law has served to give us a stock 

 that does not need further replenishing by importation. 



Our observations are that, in many portions of this State, Hun- 

 garian pheasants have reproduced in the wild state, and to a lesser 

 degree, possibly, the Japanese, (versicolor) and silvers. 



RENEWING BLOOD FROM EGGS OF WILD BIRDS.— Mr. Will- 

 iam H. Dirks, superintendent of the California State Game Farm, writes 

 that "the Chinese pheasant (Phasianus torquatus) is the bird we are rear- 

 ing and liberating in California. We do not know, with any degree of 

 certainty, of any other species that has been established on the coast. 



"Our method of renewing our blood has been through exchange with 

 private breeders, but last spring a year ago, we received 13 eggs from a 

 nest of 17 that had been destroyed by a mowing machine in Santa Clara 

 County. Our Deputy Koppel obtained these eggs about noon, placed 

 them in a box full of sawdust, containing a hot water bag, and shipped them 

 to us. We received the eggs at 5 p. m. and placed them in an incubator. 

 They hatched two days later (April 24). W^e reared 11 birds, 10 hens and 

 1 cock. The hens were penned up with one of our best cocks, and the 

 cock with 10 of our hens. From the offspring of these birds, we have 

 selected 55 birds to be bred back to the birds of our original stock." 



Most game farms make a practice of trapping wild birds for breeders 

 and this undoubtedly accounts in part for the years of unbroken success 

 that Superintendent Rogers of New York has had. In New York it is 

 unlawful to shoot pheasants within any of the territory immediately sur- 

 rounding the farm. In England some breeders place their breeding hens 

 in open pens so located that wild cocks may have access to them. There 

 are conflicting reports as to the efficacy of this method. On other estates 

 abroad no pheasants are kept in confinement and breeding is done from 

 eggs gathered from the nests of wild birds and placed under domestic hens. 

 While, I believe, the matter is not specifically covered in the New York 

 Conservation Law, I assume that such practice would be lawful in that 

 state provided the nests from which the eggs were taken were located on 



