562 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



The Introduction of Foreign Game Birds. 



When civilization, the settlement of the country and the 

 overshooting which accompanies it have extirpated the native 

 game, it is folly to introduce imported game expecting it to 

 thrive in a wild state under the same conditions that have 

 brought about the destruction of the native game. If foreign 

 game is fostered and protected at all times it may increase for 

 a while, but whenever it is exposed to the same amount of 

 shooting that extirpates native game, it vanishes like mist 

 before the summer sun. Give the indigenous game the same 

 care and protection that must be given to foreign game to 

 establish it, and the results will be far more satisfactory. No 

 naturalist would expect any introduced game bird to thrive 

 better in this country than the native birds, which have become 

 exactly suited to their environment by centuries of natural 

 selection. Most of the attempts to foster foreign game birds 

 here in a wild state have failed or are doomed to failure. Often 

 apparent success deceives the importers for a few years, only 

 to be followed by sudden failure. The only instance where 

 unquestioned permanent success has followed such an intro- 

 duction is that of the Ring-necked Pheasant in the coast region 

 of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, where the 

 climate is very favorable to the species. In ninety-nine cases 

 out of a hundred such introductions will fail in the end, unless 

 the introduced birds are protected by law at all times, and 

 even then many of them will fail. In the successful case there 

 are chances that the foreign species will either drive out the 

 native game birds or introduce some destructive disease among 

 them. 



Nevertheless, there are certain foreign game birds which, 

 if artificially propagated, fed and cared for under condi- 

 tions similar to those to which they have been accustomed 

 in Europe, may thrive even better than native game birds 

 under such conditions. In regions where the forests have 

 been destroyed and practically all the land has been turned 

 into well-cultivated farms, certain foreign game birds may be 

 made to thrive where Ruffed Grouse, for example, will not 



