REPORT OP THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



121 



weaklings, more than half of which died during the first ten days. We 

 can advance no reason for this, as the birds were hatched from the 

 same parent stock. For example, we brooded two lots of chicks side by 

 side on a grass plot, each brood being hatched twelve days apart from 

 eggs laid by the same birds. Each lot was given the same attention, 

 like food, and brooded in identical outfits. Out of one lot of 192 we 

 reared 157 ; out of the other of 265 we lost over 200. As the birds were 



Fig. 69. Portable pens used for breeding quail and 

 pheasants. State Game Farm. Hayward, 

 California. Photograph by W. N. Dirks. 



forced to lay so many more eggs during an extended period in captivity 

 than they do in the wild state, there may be times when the germ 

 becomes weak. In view of the fact that this is one of the very few 

 states, possibly the only one, that uses artificial brooders exclusively, 

 we can not ascertain whether or not this result is due to the (artificial) 

 methods used. However, from results obtained during former seasons 

 when domestic hens were used for brooding, we feel safe in stating 

 that, while there is room for improvement in our method, it will be 

 more generally adopted as pheasant breeding progresses. 



Feed. 

 During the 1915 season we devoted several hours each day to the 

 preparation and grinding of food for the young birds, using green- 

 stuff, such as lettuce, kale and beets, all of which was grown on the 

 farm, together with cracked wheat, stale bread, hard-boiled eggs and 



9—26231 



