Evening star., 1960-01-15

brush or woodlands. Foods
are seeds, fruits, acorns, grain.
green food and insects.
There are two strains. East
ern Iranian and Western
lranian. The Western strain
seems to be best suited for
Eastern Virginia and the East
ern strain best suited to the
Piedmont.
Iranian hens lay 9 to IL eggs
year and raise only one brood
Because it hasn't enough birds
OF the pure strains, Virginia
has been crossing them with
rlngnecks and it is these
crosses that are being planted.
The first release, Of Western
Iranian crosses, took place
September 81. 1858, in Charles
City County only 5 miles from
jamestown. They totaled only
300 but have thrived and null
tiplied.
Since then many more have
been planted, including both
Eastern and Western crosses
under the direction Of Herman
!. Tuttle, biologist in charge.
Some are doing we'll in Halifax
County, others in Richmond
County near Warsaw and still
others at Hog Island. Camp
Pickett and in the Buckingham-
Appamattox State Forest.
No Open Season Yet
There is no open season as
yet and probably will be none
until the whole program is
eyaluated several years hence.
But the fact that the birds are
adapting themselves to their
new environment and nesting
well is encouraging and pro-
vides good reason to believe
that pheasantS Will be added
eventually to the game birds
Of Virginia.
How it all came about is Just
another chapter in a fasci-
mating history of Americas
search for new and better birds
that goes back to Lafayette's
gift Of a pair of red-legged
partridges to George Washing
ton in 1886.
OF the more than 100 species
brought in and released, some,
including the ringneck, Hun
garian partridge and chukar
partridge, have fitted in we'll,
but others like the English
sparrow and startling are now
classified as pests.
Under a foreign game intro
ductlon program worked out by
Fish and Wildlife with inter-
ested State commissions. biolo-
gistS overseas are constantly
checking birds which might At
into similar habitats in the
United States and selecting a
few for intensive study.
Such a biologist is DR. Gard
lner Bump, With Mrs. Bump
he has spent years searching
the brush, bogs. deserts and
mountains Of Europe and Asia
for game birds that might be
worth a trial in the United
States.
In the spring of 1856 the
Bumps collected several hun
dred Iranian pheasant eggs
along the coast of the Caspian
Sea. Matched them under hens
and sent the chicks to Karachi.
India, where they were raised
in the only safe place available,
the Bumps spare bedroom.
When the birds were IA weeks
old. 158 Of them were flown to
a game farm in the United
States. When the biologist and
his wife returned 10 months
later, fewer than 80 were still
alive. To make matters worse,
only 80 were of the Western
Iranian strain particularly
suited to the South.
Seven hens and IL cocks were
sent to the Virginia Game
Farm near Cumberland where
Dennis Hart, the superintend-
ent, began a fight to build up
a brood stock.
Receive Loving Care
New pens were built and
broody bantams brought from
throughout the countryside to
incubate the eggs. The Ohio
Department of Natural Re-
sources donated some Imperial
Valley Chinese ringnecks and
these were crossed with the
Iranian cocks. When the eggs
Matched, the chicks received
more than loving care.
BY August /, 1853. there
we're "a pure Iranian ch ck>
ard l,l76 cross-breds on hand
and the first planting was in
the making.
Virginia, on the Otner hand
is not pinning all its hopes On
the Iranian blackjack
Last spring 80 japanese
green pheaSants were obtained
from Tokyo and they now are
being tested on the Cumber.
land farm. In addition some
Reeves pheasants have been
1 obtained from the Wate. loo
Experimental Game Farm at
Athens, Ohio.
. The Reeves pheasant is a