These farms can provide the birds required to complete the trials 
begun with wild-trapped stock. But unless vigorous individuals, well- 
conditioned for survival in the wild, are produced the farms also could 
seriously impede progress through the production of substandard stock. 
In some instances this is exactly what is happening. For this reason 
Program personnel have had to maintain frequent contacts with State 
biologists and with the men rearing the birds, to offer technical assist-~ 
ance and advice. This service has been well-accepted and is resulting in 
a substantial improvement both in the numbers of birds produced and in 
the quality of the stock available for trial. 
Current Status of Attempts to Propagate Foreign Species 
As in most other fields, communication is our biggest problem. Some 
States have been highly successful in breeding a given species, others 
have failed to rear more than a few birds, have been puzzled by their 
lack of success, and have not known where to turn for assistance. The 
reasons for these differences are ofttimes discernible if one compares 
practices and results State by State. Therefore, in addition to periodic 
service contacts with cooperating States by Program personnel, a record 
of breeding and rearing activities by species, States and years has been 
assembled. This shows at a glarice, some of the propagation techniques 
being utilized and the degree of success achieved with each species. It 
also helps to pinpoint some of the probable areas or causes of failure 
which might be corrected with the proper technical assistance. 
Progress by species, with particular reference to results obtained 
in 1963 may be summarized as follows: 
Black Francolin ~ Thirteen game farms in 11 States reared 1025 
birds in 1963. About half of these were produced by the Virginia game 
farm. The species is not difficult to propagate, Major problems are 
egg production and getting newly hatched chicks to start eating. 
Gray Francolin - Five States raised 1082 birds. Three-quarters of 
these were reared on the Texas game farm, on which production was a 
remarkable 37 eggs per hen. Overall, 93 percent of the chicks hatched 
were reared, 
Bamboo Partridge - Seven States produced 1263 birds. Low egg 
fertility continues to be the major problem with this species. 
Red-legged Partridge = Among the 6 States that raised a total of 
5223 birds, the production at the Washington, California, and Texas 
State game farms was outstanding. The red-legged partridge from France 
is easy to propagate. Little progress has been made in securing satis- 
factory egg production from the Spanish subspecies, 
