62 



CROSSING TO IMPROVE QUALITY. So far, the ringneck and 

 Chinese are the only birds really established in the wild state in this coun- 

 try, so far as I am able to determine, the former being characteristic of 

 the eastern United States and the latter of the far West. The other 

 species, however, are not to be dismissed summarily, and there is evidence 

 accumulating of increasing experimentation in the crossing of the ringneck 

 and Chinese with some of their near relatives with the idea of improving 

 the qualities of these birds both from a sporting and an edible standpoint. 

 Letters requesting detailed information, which were recently addressed 

 to various states and individuals which had reported to the American Game 

 Protective Association the breeding of species other than Chinese or 

 ringnecks, elicited interesting replies. Two of these that are typical are 

 given herewith : 



Dr. George W. Field, Chairman, Commissioners on Fisheries and 

 Game, Massachusetts: 



We have been breeding, in a small way, at the state farms 

 Mongolians, versicolors, Reeves and golden pheasants in addition 

 to ringnecks to determine whether by any chance these birds are 

 more suitable than the ringnecks from their feeding and breeding 

 habits, and hardihood. They are each of them distinctly more 

 difficult to raise than the ringnecks, and the few we have are only 

 for popular interest. We have not succeeded in breeding them in 

 sufficient numbers to warrant liberation, although the first crosses 

 and partial bloods have been liberated. This refers to crosses of 

 ringnecks with Mongolians and versicolor. We have no intention 

 of interbreeding hybrids or attempting to establish any subspecies 

 but merely to get a breed which is a little more gamey than the 

 ringneck. 



Henry Rief, Esq., Superintendent, King County Game Farm, Seattle, 

 Washington, writes: 



The main object I have in breeding Prince of Wales into 

 Chinese pheasants is to overcome a fault. 



The fault is, first, that our birds are becoming smaller each 

 year which is, I believe, caused through inbreeding. What first 

 called my attention to this was that in raising from one to three 

 thousand we would have one out of about fifty white. This lead 

 me to believe that the stock we had was inbred. 



I found after crossing my birds with the Prince of Wales and 

 Mongolian strains that this stopped and that the size of the birds 

 increased. While it is true that the Mongolian is a smaller bird 

 than the Chinese, he is of a cleaner strain, or rather the ones that 

 I have exhibit these qualities. 



