NON-NATIVE GAME BIBDS 37 



further importations. From this stock there were raised at the Game 

 Farm in the spring of 1909 more than one hundred strong young 

 birds. Of these, 48 were sent to Wawona and liberated in the southern 

 part of the Yosemite National Park. Conditions seemed favorable 

 and the birds were subsequently seen on various occasions, but no 

 increase in their numbers was noted, and they all finally disappeared. 



Thirty-four birds were seiit to Sequoia National Park, Tulare 

 County, in November, 1909. In February, 1910, Walter Fry, acting 

 superintendent of the park, reported finding a nest with five eggs ; 

 in ]March, two nests, one with 11, the other with 16 eggs. On March 

 21 he reported the wild turkeys to be doing finely. One hen had seven 

 young birds. On May 21, many tracks of young birds were noted. 

 Under date of July 14, 1910, referring to that season's shipment, he 

 said : ' ' Wild turkeys were this day liberated in the Sequoia National 

 Park at the mouth of the Marble Fork of the Kaweah River. They 

 were in good condition and no losses were sustained." 



During the season of 1910 more than two hundred young wild 

 turkeys were reared at the Game Farm. Of these, eighty-five were 

 sent to the Sequoia National Park and ten to citizens of Porterville, 

 Tulare County, who liberated them in a particularly favorable section 

 near there. In 1911, five wild turkeys from Virginia were added to 

 the breeding stock at the Game Farm, but only a few birds of this 

 latter race were reared. Propagation of wild turkeys was finally 

 abandoned in 1913 after the larger part of the breeding stock had 

 died from blackhead. 



There are reports to the effect that when liberated many of the 

 wild turkeys reared at the Game Farm sought some nearby farmyard 

 and there mingled with the domestic stock. Recent reports from the 

 Sequoia National Park indicate that some of the wild turkeys in the 

 park are semidomesticated ; they have become very tame and forage 

 near the camp of the Mount Whitney Power and Electric Company. 

 Another band, which appears to be firmly established near the junc- 

 tion of the Middle and Marble forks of the Kaweah River, is very wdld. 



From the foregoing accounts of the introduction of turkeys into 

 California there is one outstanding inference to be drawn : the condi- 

 tions in the localities where the birds were liberated were not suited 

 to the stock used. 



Bob-White 



Some of the first attempts to introduce non-native game birds into 

 California w^ere made with the eastern quail, the Bob-white (CoUnus 

 virginianus) . 



Mr. Eamon E. "Wilson, of the California Sportsman's Association, kindly 

 furnishes the following [information] concerning introduced game birds; date, 



