1000 PHEASANTS FOR LIBERATION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 106, 29 January 1938, Page 10

1000 PHEASANTS FOR LIBERATION

Incubation Trouble WILD BIRDS BREEDING SATISFACTORILY With the shooting season in sight, the Wellington Acclimatisation Society is laying its plans for the liberation throughout its district o£ 1000 pheasants. A further 400 will be released at a later stage, and with particularly favourable conditions for breeding in the wild, prospects for the season are likely to b“ good. Although the society aimed at liberating twice the number o£ birds it will have available, misfortune in the latter half of the breeding season lias greatly restricted the number of chicks. Mortality due (T rough weather, and incubator trouble, were the main causes. When Mr. C. E. Aldridge, gamecommittee chairman, Mr. E. J. C. fVi£lin, council secretary, and other members of the society visited the game farni at Bara para umu last week-end, they found that the curator, Mr. E. Trask, had about 1230 chicks under bis care, and about 350 to batch shortly. Recently, however, the eggs had not been hatching well. A smaller ■ percentage of chicks had been obtained than ever before. The eggs were fertile, but when they reached a certain stage they ceased to develop. Cause Not Yet Discovered. So far it Iyad been impossible to discover the exact cause of this condition. The incubators appeared to be working correctly, although it was noticeable that the. hatchings from one in particular were fewer than from the others. The suggestion had been raised that the failure of the eggs was due to the laying hens being too fat; they had been fed on maize for the first time and were in unusually plump condition. The unusually fine weather this summer had caused the mortality from climatic rigours to be less than usual ; but the recent southerly storm, bringing a sudden and complete change of temperature, had taken a toll of the young birds. Mr. Aldridge told “The Dominion that he was preparing plans for the allocation of 1000 to be liberated in the various parts of the district, for approval by the game committee and submission to the council when it next met on February 9. The liberations would be made immediately after that. The remaining young birds would, be held over, for later liberation, either after the season or on strictly protected areas. They would be too small to be subjected to fire this season. New Stock Birds. About 80 out of the game farm's 90 stock birds, now two years old, will probably be liberated. They will be replaced by a new picked flock, of which about 50 will be birds of the new English stock, and the remainder New Zealand reared Chinese hens, which have proved themselves excellent layers. Apart from the necessity of maintaining a young laying flock, the scheme of liberating the two-year-olds is a sound one according to Mr. Aldridge, because, experience has shown that birds let go at this age adapt themselves particularly well tonvild conditions. Mr. Aldridge said that from reports that had come in from different districts all indicated that the breeding season among the wild pheasants had been a particularly good one. Large litter of chicks had been seen in almost all "seasons. As there had been no bad weather to cause undue mortality until the chicks were old enough to survive, and as there was an abundance of natural food this summer, It was reasonable to expect a goodly supply of pheasants this year. He thought that in spite of the curtailment’of liberations the shooting was likely to prove better than usual, i