THIRTY-FOURTH BIENNIAL REPORT 29 



reduced costs. And while this is important, there is another angle to 

 the program that is of equal or more importance. It has been found 

 that in localities where these pens are located game law^ violations are 

 decreasing. It seems that where a community has invested its money 

 in holding pens, and taken care of the birds, the idea of state owner- 

 ship is lost. The birds become community property and are treated 

 as such. Many communities are accepting this responsibility. The 

 presence of the birds seems to help to crystallize public sentiment in 

 their favor and the poacher is gradually finding it harder to get away 

 witli his nefarious business. 



Near the close of 1935 the Division of Pish and Game launched a 

 WPA building program that has given units of 48 pens to Redding, 

 Willows, Saeramonto, Stockton and Fresno. Each of these units of 

 pens has a seasonal ca])acity of 2000 birds. At the same time the incu- 

 bating and brooding facilities have been increased to keep up with 

 this holding pen expansion program. As the program develops produc- 

 tion facilities will be increased as needed. 



The production of our game farms is confined to five major birds : 

 Ringneck, Mongolian and Reeves Pheasants ; Valley Quail, Chukor 

 Partridge and some work with the Mexican Bronze Turkey. A careful 

 survey of the conditions of the state warrants this sort of a program. 

 The ringneck pheasant is produced for the agricultural districts ; the 

 Mongolian pheasant for the more wooded sections; the Reeves pheasant 

 for the elevations above 2000 feet ; the Chukor partridge is adapted to 

 the arid sections of the state. Beginning with the 1937 season, the 

 annual production of Mongolian pheasants will be progressively 

 increased. Most of the available agricultural areas of the state have 

 been well stocked with ringnecks and more attention will now be paid 

 to the wooded foothill areas. The Mexican bronze turkey is finding a 

 suitable home in many sections of the state, where food conditions are 

 almost identical with its native habitat in Old Mexico, New Mexico, 

 Arizona and parts of Colorado. 



With the development of a program of this sort the operations of 

 the hunter will be spread out and congestion eliminated and the possible 

 daily bag increased to several types of birds instead of one or two. 



In the past two years the production of quail and pheasants has 

 been about equal while the experimental work on the Chukor Part- 

 ridge has been going ahead. With the planting of 3500 of these birds 

 in about 65 different sections of the State, the results seem to justify our 

 confidence in the bird and we believe this fine game bird will provide 

 the answer to the stocking of the arid sections where at the present 

 time there are no birds of any kind. The open seasons for the past 

 few years have seen the pheasant as a game bird come into high favor 

 among sportsmen. More localities are asking for the planting of this 

 bird. 



The following table shows the egg production and general distribu- 

 tion of birds for the biennium : 



Eggs Laid 

 Ringneck Silver and 



Pheasant Golden Reeves Partridge Quail Turkey 



106,650 176 3,373 12,285 63,245 453 



