GAME OF THE UNITED STATES. 



391 



various names, such as " blind snipe," " wood 

 snipe," " timber doodle," "bog sucker," "night 

 snipe," and " night partridge." It is migratory 

 in the eastern portions of America. It lies 

 well to a dog, and in the South is killed at 

 night by fire-hunting. Its flesh is extremely 

 delicious, especially in summer, when it finds 

 an abundance of its choicest food. The snipe 

 (Gallinago Wilsonii, Bon.), commonly known 

 as the "English snipe," "shad-spirit," "jack 

 snipe," etc., is a migratory bird, found at dif- 

 ferent seasons throughout North America. It 

 is the only member of the snipe family that is 

 hunted with dogs and lies to them. 



Presemtion of Game. Many of the animals in 

 the above list are protected during the breed- 

 ing season by legislative enactments in most 

 of the States in the Union. These laws, how- 

 ever, in many instances have never been en- 

 forced, and have become a dead letter. Thus 

 it is that the different varieties of game are 

 rapidly becoming depleted, and in some in- 

 stances, as with the buffalo and elk, almost 

 extinct in sections where only twenty years 

 ago they were very abundant. The failure to 

 provide laws for the protection of many varie- 

 ties of wild fowl and waders, while making 

 their spring migration, has caused them to be- 

 come very scarce on the Atlantic coast. The 

 improvement made in sporting fire-arms, and 

 the very great increase in the number of per- 

 sons that pursue game either for pleasure or 

 profit the rapid growth of the country, and 

 the consequent clearing off of the forests and 

 universal drainage of swamp-lands have all 

 tended to decrease materially the stock of game 

 in the Northeastern section of the United 

 States. Several varieties of game, notably the 

 wild turkey and pinnated grouse, have either 

 been exterminated in the Eastern States or 

 driven back toward the western frontier. In 

 some sections the increase of ground-vermin, 

 and of hawks, owls, and crows, has been more 

 than proportionate to the decrease of the game. 

 Of the very large number of different varieties 

 of birds, only one species, the common quail, 

 has successfully held its own, and this is at- 

 tributable to the immense spread of cultivation, 

 and the consequent increase of grain-fields. 

 Awakening to the fact that game is being de- 

 pleted, the wealthy sportsmen of the country 

 have been recently establishing preserves in 

 all sections, and the present outlook points to 

 America's rivaling Europe in this respect. 



During the past few years an attempt has 

 been made to acclimatize American game in 

 Europe. A large number of elk, Virginia deer, 

 pinnated grouse, quail, and wild fowl have 

 been exported, and measures taken to cause 

 their increase. With the exception of the 

 mammals, however, the experiment has been 

 a failure. On the other hand, the attempt to 

 naturalize several varieties of pheasants and 

 the English partridge in North America has 

 borne satisfactory results. 



While it is reported, on good authority, that 



the introduction of the pheasant has met with 

 success in some dozen different localities in the 

 United States, it is known that the most satis- 

 factory results have been achieved in the vicin- 

 ity of Puget Sound, and at Jobstown, Burling- 

 ton County, N. J. At the first-named place 

 four years ago a moderately large shipment of 

 Mongolian pheasants was received. The birds 

 on their arrival were found to be in excellent 

 condition, and they were given a home on 

 an island in Puget Sound. There they thrived 

 to a wonderful extent. In two years they 

 covered the island, and the overcrowding 

 caused a large number of birds to go to the 

 mainland and scatter over the surrounding 

 country, where they are now found in con- 

 siderable numbers. The introduction of the 

 English pheasant and the English partridge 

 on the estate of Mr. Pierre Lorillard, at Jobs- 

 town, N. J., occurred five years ago. The 

 first shipments were destroyed by hawks and 

 ground - vermin. Then Mr. Lorillard estab- 

 lished a nursery for these birds by inclosing 

 one hundred acres of wild land with a very 

 high fence, and appointing keepers to feed and 

 care for them. Since that time both the pheas- 

 ants and partridges have greatly increased. 

 At first their eggs were hatched out under do- 

 mestic fowls, but in time the birds born here 

 began to shift for themselves, and hatch and 

 rear their own young, and as they increased in 

 number they scattered over the surrounding 

 country. This has been especially the case 

 with the partridge, covies of which were found 

 last autumn ten miles distant from Mr. Loril- 

 lard's preserve. It has, therefore, been dem- 

 onstrated that on both the Atlantic and Pa- 

 cific coasts foreign game birds of the pheasant 

 and partridge species will thrive and increase 

 under natural conditions. It may be taken 

 for granted that both the pheasant and the 

 partridge will do well in the Middle, Southern, 

 and Southwestern States, and on the Pacific 

 coast, providing that for a year or two after 

 their introduction they are protected from ani- 

 mals of prey and from pot-hunters. In the 

 first instance, the parent birds must be cared 

 for, but their young will soon learn to protect 

 themselves from enemies, and thrive on the 

 natural food of the section they inhabit. 



Within the past eight years about fifteen 

 thousand Messina quail have been imported 

 to this country, and distributed in small lots 

 all over the United States. A few of these 

 birds have been known to breed in the sum- 

 mer season succeeding their introduction, but 

 on the approach of cool weather both old and 

 young birds were found to disappear suddenly, 

 and since then nothing has ever been heard of 

 them. By many sportsmen it is thought that 

 they perished; still, some naturalists cherish 

 the idea that they migrated to the Southern 

 States, and adopted a home in a warm climate, 

 remote from civilization, or in sparsely settled 

 sections, where they have remained unobserved 

 by the ignorant population. 



