APPENDIX. 
127 
which is not contained in this booklet, write to the “Superintendent of 
the State Game Farm, Hayward, Cal.,” and he will give you such sug¬ 
gestions as you may need to make a success of raising pheasants. Any 
one going into the business extensively should have special instructions 
and must provide a different equipment. 
IMPORTANT* 
HOW TO LIBERATE GAME BIRDS. 
If game birds are taken from the crates and left to fly, in their fright 
and desire to get away as far as possible from the crate, they will con¬ 
tinue until exhausted. Such a flight will land them outside the lands 
they are intended for and will scatter them so badly that the pairs may 
never be reunited. If this is not the case, the exhausted birds will fall 
easy prey to predatory birds and animals. 
To prevent this it is best to take the crate to some suitable location—in 
or near thick brush and with water at hand—and scatter plenty of feed 
about. Now quietly open the doors and go away from the crate, allow¬ 
ing the birds to leave in their own way—undisturbed by any one. If 
liberated in this manner, the game almost invariably will make its home 
close to the spot where it found its first food. 
Birds should be liberated during the daytime so that they may get 
together, if scattered, and select a safe roosting place before night comes 
on. Where it is possible to do so, splendid results will be obtained by 
opening the crates in some old barn or ranch building and keeping the 
birds penned up for several days before allowing them their full liberty. 
If the birds are fed and watered and left to themselves, they will 
recover from the effects of close confinement and traveling, and be in 
such condition that predatory hawks and “varmints” will do them no 
harm. When ready to liberate them, open a door and allow the birds to 
come out in their own way and time. 
Game birds should not be liberated where their natural enemies are 
numerous. By trapping, poisoning, and other means, endeavor to kill 
off all predatory animals and such birds of prey as the great horned owl, 
sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper’s hawk, duck hawk, butcher bird, and blue 
jay, before turning out any birds. 
