Raising a New Hybrid: Pheasant X Japanese Quail

Cytogenetic studies of the chicken, pheasant, quail, and turkey are of particular interest since these species are raised for domestic and experimental purposes. Hybrids have been obtained between the chicken and turkey (Gray, 1958; Olsen, 1960), chicken and quail, chicken and pheasant, and turkey and pheasant (Gray, 19S8); however, crosses between pheasant and quail have not been reported. For three years I tried to produce viable hybrids from crosses of pheasant males X quail females by artificial insemination. Pheasant males were placed into individual cages, and the semen was collected similar to the chicken semen (Burrows and Quinn, 1939). The quail females were inseminated immediately. The percent of infertile eggs has stayed about the same for the three years (Table 1). In 1969, most eggs showed only membranes. About the same number of eggs had membranes with some blood in all three years. Only one adult was raised in 1968;…