46 GAME SIBDS OF CALIFOBNIA 



tried have given discouraging results, as will be learned from the 

 following paragraphs. 



The State Game Farm 



Believing that the establishment of a state farm for the rearing of 

 game birds in captivity, operated along the same lines as fish hatch- 

 eries, would be of help in restoring depleted game covers, the Cali- 

 fornia Fish and Game Commission founded such a farm in September, 

 1908, at Hayward, Alameda County, and has maintained it for some 

 eight years at a total expense of over $50,000. The farm was imme- 

 diately stocked with Ring-necked Pheasants, Valley Quail, and a few 

 Hungarian Partridges. During the operation of the farm perhaps 

 3,000 Ring-necked Pheasants have been reared and distributed 

 throughout the state. In most instances, however, it has been found 

 that the birds become very tame in captivity and that when liberated 

 they seemed to be incapable of taking care of themselves. In spite 

 of the large numbers planted, there are at the present time but few 

 places in the state where the birds have gained a foothold. 



The efforts to propagate quail in captivity have for the most part 

 been unsuccessful. In 1915, about 300 young birds were reared. 

 ' ' Quail disease ' ' gave continual trouble and large numbers of the birds 

 died before reaching maturity. A few Mountain Quail have been 

 kept at the farm but they have not bred. The eggs of a few captive 

 Desert Quail have been hatched in incubators, but none of the chicks 

 survived. No Hungarian Partridges have been successfully reared 

 on the farm and those which were purchased and planted in different 

 parts of the state soon disappeared. 



In response to requests and suggestions from a number of sports- 

 men, efforts were made to secure from Virginia and from Mexico some 

 Wild Turkeys, in the hope that propagated birds might establish 

 themselves if given reasonable protection. A few were reared at the 

 farm from the stock secured and were planted in different parts of 

 the state. No turkeys are believed to exist in a wholly wild state in 

 California at the present time, although favorable reports were at first 

 received from the Sequoia National Park, where some were placed 

 (see p. 37). The breeding stock at Hayward was constantly reduced 

 in numbers by blackhead, a disease very fatal to turkeys. 



In all the above breeding experiments the birds with the exception 

 of the turkeys, were kept in small wire cages. Eggs have been col- 

 lected and hatched in a few instances under bantams but more fre- 

 quently in incubators. Most of the young birds have been reared in 

 brooders. Eastern game farms have abandoned the incubator in 

 favor of bantams, but there seems no good reason why equal success 

 could not be obtained through the use of incubators and brooders. 



