114 



THE GAME BREEDER 



yard Haven. It is common to flush 200 

 or more in the feeding grounds on the 

 reservation. They lie well to a dog, and 

 weigh about two pounds, making an ex- 

 cellent game bird. 



Now a word regarding vermin. Cats 

 and marsh hawks are their chief en- 

 emies. During the winter of 1913-14 

 twelve cats were killed; in 1914-15 sev- 

 enteen were shot, and three have been 

 killed to date this fall. Considering the 

 fact that we are four miles from any 

 village, it shows the extent to which 



these pests travel. We expect to be able 

 to keep them down now, having recently 

 purchased a cat dog, through the efforts 

 of Game Commissioner William C. 

 Adams. Large numbers of marsh hawks 

 are destroyed annually, the scrub oaks 

 seem to attract and keep them here in 

 summer, as the marsh hawks are far 

 more numerous here than they are on 

 the mainland. 



I would extend a cordial invitation to 

 any and all bird lovers to pay the reser- 

 vation a visit and view the birds. 



THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT. 



By Harold C. Bryant, 

 Game Expert, Fish and Game Commission of California. 



[We would respectfully urge the game ex 

 California to consider the question of vermi 

 numbers. On the game farms and preserves o 

 thousands of pheasants are liberated and sho 

 vermin of all sorts and the game keepers ar 

 the hawks, crows, foxes, snakes and many o 

 have seen the keepers kill crows when they w 

 when they were taking young pheasants; we h 

 recently devoured young pheasants. How would 

 publications of the Fish and Game Commissio 

 dog" they are decidedly different from those 

 able on this account. — Editor.] 



Of interest to everyone are the recent 

 attempts to establish foreign game birds 

 in the United States. These attempts 

 have been so well advertised that the 

 names of ring-necked pheasant and Hun- 

 garian partridge are familiar to all. In 

 reviewing the work accomplished along 

 these lines it has been found that the only 

 bird which has been successfully estab- 

 lished anywhere in the United States is 

 the Chinese ring-necked pheasant. 



The ring-necked pheasant in the Orient 

 is distributed from western Siberia and 

 Mongolia to Korea and eastern China. 

 In its native habitat it is largely a bird of 

 the mountain districts. It is therefore 

 remarkable that this species when trans- 

 planted to the Pacific Coast should take 

 to the lowlands and become established 

 there only. 



The first attempts to introduce this 

 bird on the Pacific Coast were made by 



pert of the Fish and Game Commission of 

 n and its relation to pheasants liberated in small 

 wned by readers of The Game Breeder many 

 t every year. A continual warfare is waged on 

 e well aware they would have few pheasants if 

 Lher vermin were not partially controlled. We 

 ere stealing eggs ; we have seen them kill hawks 

 ave seen them cut open snakes and take out 

 it do to discuss this important question in the 

 n? If California pheasants, "lie well to the 

 we are familiar with and are especially valu- 



Hon. O. N. Denny in 1880. All but 

 twelve cocks and three hens of the first 

 shipment died during transportation 

 from Shanghai. These few birds were 

 liberated twelve miles from Portland. 

 The following year ten cocks and eigh- 

 teen hens were liberated in the Willa- 

 mette Valley. These birds increased so 

 rapidly and became so thoroughly estab- 

 lished in the State that twelve years 

 later, when a. shooting season of two and 

 a half months was opened, 50,000 were 

 reported as having been killed. 



The success attained in Oregon aroused 

 general interest throughout the United 

 States and thousands of these pheasants 

 have since been liberated. Some have 

 been imported, while others have been 

 reared on game farms and on private 

 preserves. But in spite of continued in- 

 terest in the problem of establishing this 

 bird, the only places where the ring- 



