30 GAME BIBBS OF CALIFORNIA 



The success of Oregon in introducing pheasants, and the similar 

 success which attended the introduction of exotic fishes into the waters 

 of California have both been incentives to experiment in acclimatiza- 

 tion with game birds in this state. Within eight years after shad had 

 been planted in the Sacramento River at Tehama they became so 

 abundant that thousands were caught and sold in the markets of San 

 Francisco. Carp became numerous soon after they were planted, and 

 the same was true with black bass. It is not to be wondered at that 

 the same sort of results was looked for by those who sought to restock 

 the depleted game covers of our state. 



More than a quarter century has passed since the first private 

 attempts were made to introduce foreign game birds into California, 

 and more than two decades have gone by since the matter Avas given 

 serious consideration by the State Board of Fish Commissioners, the 

 predecessor of our present Fish and Game Commission. In view of 

 the length of the period which has elapsed since then, and the number 

 and extent of the trials which have been made, it seems that a time 

 has arrived for reviewing the work performed, for judging the results 

 obtained, and for attempting to find out what will be the best course 

 for the future in this direction. The present chapter aims to do this, 

 and also to place data and materials for studying the problem in more 

 detail than is here possible at the disposal of those who are most 

 interested. 



Pheasants 



California's most persistent attempt to bring in and establish a 

 foreign species appears in the case of the Ring-necked Pheasant 

 {Phasianus iorquatus) . The earliest efforts to this end were made 

 by private individuals, but unfortunately the accounts of these first 

 attempts are incomplete, and it is probable that we have record of 

 only a small proportion of the total number of importations that were 

 made. The first published statement we have been able to find which 

 pertains to this subject is that made by Belding in 1890 (pp. 8-9) in 

 which he saj^s : 



Some years ago a flock of English pheasants was pnt out in the woods of 

 Santa Cruz County, but nothing has been seen nor heard of them since. Colonel 

 Haymond of San Mateo has a number of these birds, English and Japanese, 

 but he has had no success in raising them; when let out they suddenly disappear 

 and nothing is seen or heard of them. Mr. Howard, near by, has experimented 

 with the same bird. A few weeks since he informed me that his foreman 

 told him he had seen a flock of twenty-two birds. The birds mentioned are the 

 only ones experimented with. Certainly thus far the experiments are not a 

 success. In Oregon they have met with great success, with both quail and 

 pheasants. 



