16 
PHEASANT RAISING IN THE UNITED STATES. 
Indiana.—Indiana liberated about 700 English ringnecks and ringnecks in the 
period from 1897 to 1902. A pheasantry was established at Madison in 1903 and, as 
usual, promised to be very successful, but it failed and was abandoned in 1906. At 
present the state game commissioner i3 trying the experiment of establishing numerous 
preserves of 4,000 to 10,000 acres each throughout the State by contracts with farmers. 
Imported pheasants and partridges purchased for the purpose are liberated on these 
preserves, and the farmers agree to allow no hunting thereon for four years after stock¬ 
ing. These birds are fed and cared for, but are allowed to propagate naturally. More 
than a hundred such preserves have been established within the last three years, with 
40 to 100 game birds on each, mainly, however, Hungarian partridges, which the com¬ 
missioner believes to be better adapted to the purpose than pheasants. The object 
of this course is to provide numerous refuges where the birds may increase and from 
which they may spread so as to stock the State. The movement is popular with both 
farmers and sportsmen and has thus far proved successful. The number of pheasants 
in the State at present is estimated by the commissioner at 6,000 to 8,000. 
Illinois.—In 1891 a pair of ringnecks (the first, it is claimed, to cross the Rocky 
Mountains) was brought from Oregon by a citizen of Illinois and liberated at his home. 
This initial importation was followed by others, the total number shipped in the 
eleven years from 1896 to 1906, inclusive, being 135. Pheasants of various other spe¬ 
cies also were introduced, but all these attempts to stock the State were futile. The 
establishment of the resident-hunting-license system later produced a very large reve¬ 
nue, and it was decided to undertake pheasant propagation and introduction on a 
broader scale than had yet been tried anywhere in the United States. In the spring 
of 1905 a state game farm (fig. 1) was established on a tract of 400 acres, and here the 
work of pheasant raising was begun under the personal supervision of the state game 
commissioner. The main stock is English ringneck pheasants, though other species— 
ringneck, versicolor, English, and Mongolian—have been used in breeding experi¬ 
ments. The game farm has not been an unqualified success. An outbreak of roup in 
1907 carried off thousands of the young of that year, and other obstacles have been 
encountered. In 1908, 20,000 eggs were distributed among the farmers of Illinois, 
while 15,000 chicks were hatched on the game farm. The extensive scale of this 
experiment gives it special interest, but it is too early yet to pronounce on results. 
California.—In California the ringneck was introduced by private enterprise in 
1894. In 1897 the board of fish commissioners began purchasing pheasants from Ore¬ 
gon, and from 1897 to 1900 bought and liberated 416 ringnecks and 153 English ring¬ 
necks. The commissioners subsequently abandoned the attempt to stock the State 
by this method, and have recently established a state game farm at Haywards. They 
are, however, devoting their efforts mainly to Hungarian partridges. They report that 
pheasants are being propagated in a small way by people in all parts of the State, and 
that there are probably a few breeding wild in the State, particularly in Santa Clara, 
Santa Cruz, Fresno, Humboldt, and Kern counties. 
New Jersey.—New Jersey was one of the first States in which interest in the impor¬ 
tation and propagation of pheasants was aroused, and several private preserves in the 
northern part of the State attest the continuance of this interest to the present time. 
About ten or fifteen years ago the state game commission bought and liberated a con¬ 
siderable number of ringnecks, which did well at first but soon began to decrease and 
in three or four years had disappeared. In 1904 the commission established a small 
preserve at Oradell and for a year or two undertook the propagation of pheasants on 
a small scale. The commission had in mind about this time the plan later adopted 
by Indiana of forming preserves by agreement with owners of contiguous farms, but 
does not seem e\er to have put it into practical operation. Nevertheless, within the 
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