THE GAME BREEDER 



115 





necked pheasant is to be found at the 

 present time in numbers large enough to 

 justify an open season are in. the States 

 of Oregon and Washington. 



California has spent thousands of dol- 

 lars and has planted thousands of ring- 

 necked pheasants, yet these birds are 

 nowhere abundant enough to warrant 

 even a short open season upon them. 

 The places where the birds are most 

 abundant in this State are in the vicini- 

 ties of Yreka, Siskiyou County ; Eureka, 

 Humboldt County; Fortuna, Humboldt 

 County; Cloverdale, Sonoma County; 

 Napa, Napa County; Carmel Valley, 

 Monterey County; Snelling, Merced 

 County, and Porterville and Lindsey, 

 Tulare County. 



Where the birds have become estab- 

 lished they seek shelter largely in the 

 tules and willows along streams and 

 about the margins of lakes. They forage 

 in the neighboring open fields, feeding 

 upon waste grain, grass-seeds, alfalfa and 

 also to a large extent upon insects. 

 Great numbers of grasshoppers, cer- 

 tain beetles and other injurious insects 

 are greedily devoured. It has been re- 

 ported that upward of 1200 wireworms 

 have been taken out of the crop of a 

 ring-necked pheasant, also that two 

 pheasants shot at the close of the shoot- 

 ing season had in their crops 726 wire- 

 worms, 1 acorn, 1 snail, 9 berries and 

 3 grains of wheat. 



As a game bird the pheasant ranks 

 very high. It is highly ornamental, lies 



well to a dog and is usually to be found 

 in the open. Not only does it make ideal 

 sport, but it furnishes a valuable addi- 

 tion to the table. This bird is in great 

 demand by hotels and clubs for use at 

 banquets, and the usual price paid is 

 $2.50 per bird. Since the ring-necked 

 pheasant is easily reared in captivity, 

 pheasant raising can be made a profit- 

 able business. The recent breakup in 

 trade between China and the United 

 States because of the sale of American 

 ships has limited the usual importation 

 of cold storage pheasants, so that the 

 market may be expected to improve. 



The state of California has done its 

 best to improve game conditions by es- 

 tablishing this foreign game bird. 

 Thousands of ring-necked pheasants 

 have been reared at the state game farm 

 at Hayward and distributed to different 

 parts of the state. Why the results 

 have not been greater is hard to under- 

 stand. One reason is apparent, and that 

 is that in many localities where the birds 

 have been planted people have taken so 

 little interest in them that poachers 

 have slowly cleaned them out. In addi- 

 tion, it seems probable that the state of 

 California does not furnish as good food 

 and cover as does Oregon, and this may 

 be a basic reason why the ring-necked 

 pheasant is not more numerous in Cali- 

 fornia at the present time. Time alone 

 will tell what we are to expect from the 

 ring-necked pheasant in this state. 



THE WORK OF LAST YEAR. 



By the Editor. 



In reviewing the progress of game 

 breeding and the legislation encouraging 

 the new industry we said last January: 

 "There were not as many game breeders' 

 laws enacted as there will be this year." 

 Our prediction has been verified. 



Thirty-two States now permit and en- 

 courage the production and sale of all 

 or certain species of game. The absurd- 

 ity of encouraging only the breeding of 



the more common species and denying 

 the breeders assistance to species which 

 most need it is becoming more evident 

 and the laws, we predict, soon will be 

 amended in every State, as they have 

 been in some, so as to permit game breed- 

 ers to rear and sell all species of game 

 under simple regulations. 



The words "in captivity" still are used 

 in some statutes, the claim being made 



