The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-12
IMPRESS THEHENS
Game Warden Travis Comes to
Topeka for Bantams.
viii Use Them to Hatch Pleas
ant Eggs.
COMING GAME BIRD.
Expects to People Kansas Prai-
ries With Them.
Also Asks Santa Fe to Build a
Fish Car.
COMING GAME BIRD

State Game Warden Del Travis came
to Topeka today for the purpose of in
vesting in a flock of bantam hens at
the state poultry show. They will be-
come part of the equipment at the
state hatchery for ring-neck pheasants
al Pratt, Kansas
1T is necessary to have bantams to
hatch the pheasant eggs" said Mr.
Travis today. This is the experience
of the hatcheries in Oregon, where we
obtain all of our birds. So long as they
are in captivity. the pheasants will not
set on eggs. The female birds keep on
laying eggs all summer, beginning
about April 1. So it is necessary to
have some other birds to hatch the
eggs and look after the young pleas
ants. The bantam hens have been
found best adapted for this purpose. A
bantam can hatch about twelve pleas
ant eggs, and as is well known, the
bantam hens are the best kind of set
ters. They are not so big that they in
jure the pheasant eggs or the young
pheasants, as an ordinary sized hen
might do.
s'When the ring-neck pheasants are
at liberty, they mate like qualls, and
one female will raise four brOOds of
contains from twelve to twenty. AS
soon as the young are Matched, the
male bird takes charge CT them, and
the female goes to work laying eggs
for another setting. This system of
raising the young is what causes the
pheasantS to multiply with such as
toniShing rapidity.
"The original Chinese ring-neck
pheasants were brought to oregon
twenty years ago by Judge Denny
There were only eighteen birds, and
they were liberated in the Willamette
valley. Now thy are thick all over
Oregon. In one days hunting last
summer, there were $4,000 pheasants
killed by hunters in that state At one
time the pheasants became so timex
that the farmers thought they We're m
Turing the crops. The state legisla-
ture therefore removed all restrictions
from killing them, and a general
slaughter was started for the purpose
of determination. Later the farmers
discovered that it wasn't the pheasants
after all that were injuring the crops,
and the killing of the pheasants was
restricted to certain months Ihat s
the way things stand now out there
1--WE now have ninety-two pheasants
at the hatchery at Pratt. They have
all been sent to me from Oregon
have bought all there are for sale out
there now, and have contracted for
1 GOO more next summer want TO
get about 5000 birds altogether, and
scatter them throughout the state. This
with what we can hatch at the state
hatchery ought to enable US to thor
oughly stock the state within few
years.
'.These pheasants winter here; they
are not migratory. They get into the
timber or brush, and keep out of the
snow in that way. During the winter
they live on seeds of weeds, kaffir corn
shocks, etc. Their habits are very much
like those of the quail.
1T is a peculiar fact that the most
fatal thing to the pheasants are their
long tails Their tails drag on the
ground and as it is their habit to roost
in the snow they sometimes are caught
in a thaW and freeze, and their Ialls are
frozen into the snow. This holds them
prisoner sometimes until they starve to
death"
Wants Santa Fe to Build Fish Car.
Mr.. Travis will call upon General
Manager Hurley of the Sar+" Re ana
try to secure from him an agreement 70
have the fish car for the state Hsh
hatchery built at the Santa Re shops IN
1T is of interest to the railroads of
the state to have the streams Wen STOCK
ed with fish" said Mr.. Travis, ana LOI
that reason hope that the SANTA e
viii build us a car here in Topeka. we
will want a good substantial car, anu
suppose that the interior equipment Ior
handling the fish will be more expeh-
sive than the car itself. When we have
this fish car we can work much more
rapidly and advantageously in stocking
the streams
I'VE now have five ponds at Pratt full
of water and full of fish. Next spring
I expect to build five more ponds This
will give US good stock of fish, and
we can go ahead with stocking the
streams more rapidly than ever before
Mr.. Travis does not feel very badly
about the recent decision of the attOr-
nev7 general to the effect that it is con-
trary to law for him to pay the county
clerks a ten cent fee for issuing hunt
ing licenses. Mr.. Travis was willing tG
pay this feet had the attorney genera
approved the plan, but since it has not
been approved. it will mean about $1,000
more which will be available for i'm i'm
proving the fish and game department.
sI do not think that the county clerks
will care to bring any legal proceed
ings." said Mr.. Travi- They raised
some money to hire Judge Hazen to
give an opinion of the right of the clerk
to charge a % cent fee, but as this %
cent fee would all go to the county;
and not to the clerks, it is OF 70 special
advantage to them to push the case