THIRTIETH BIENNIAL REPORT 



95 



1927. All of the areas planted in 1926 were restocked in 1927 accord- 

 ing to plans that had been previously adopted by the Commission. 



NUMBER OF BIRDS PLANTED IN AN AREA 



It was also deemed expedient to make all plantings with a sufficient 

 number of birds so that they might be easily identified. Following 

 this rule no plants were made where less than one hundred birds were 

 used. Some of them included as many as two hundred and fifty. This 

 made it easy for the Commission or interested sportsmen to check up 

 on the plants and get definite information on the progress of the 

 birds. If only a few pairs are placed in an area and anything happens 

 to a few of them the identity of the plant is lost. 



KIND OF GROUND SUITABLE FOR PHEASANTS 



Primarily the pheasant is a bird of the valley or meadow regions. 

 It is nearly always safe to say that dairy lands are well suited to 

 these birds. Low s^rass and weed cover seem to suit them better than 



Fig. 32. At the Yountville Game Farm experiments are being made in the propa- 

 gation of various species of tinamou, famous South American game birds. 



brush or the more wooded sections. Alfalfa fields are much to their 

 liking because of the excellent cover and the further fact that insect 

 life, their principal food, is found there. It is true that they will use 

 higher ground for morning and evening feeding, but the greater portion 

 of their life is spent in the lower country. 



On the contrary the Hungarian partridge will seek the bench lands 

 and the stubble fields and in general ranges higher than the pheasant. 

 Partridges also like grass cover in which they pass the greater part 

 of the day hidden from their natural enemies. 



