Foreign Game 347 



bly the answer may be furnished in the affirma- 

 tive by New England, the Canadian maritime 

 provinces, Quebec, or some portion of the vast 

 mountainous regions of the Pacific side. I fail 

 to see why serious effort should be devoted to 

 the attempt. There are many better native game- 

 birds, if sport be the* object, for the best the accli- 

 mated capercailzie would offer would be a mon- 

 grel form of still hunting with the small calibre 

 rifle. To stalk a calling bird and drop him from 

 his perch doubtless would be a mildly interesting 

 feat for the first few attempts, but I utterly fail to 

 perceive how it could permanently rival turkey- 

 tracking or even turkey-calling. 



The one imported bird now firmly established 

 and entitled to a place among American upland 

 game is the pheasant. While we have many 

 breeders of pheasants, such as the golden, silver, 

 Amherst, and other beautiful species, the bird in 

 which sportsmen are most interested is the Mon- 

 golian, or ringneck, Phasianus torquatus. This 

 is a large and exceedingly handsome bird, hardy 

 enough to thrive almost anywhere in the forested 

 regions of the United States; but judged from the 

 sporting point of view, it is greatly inferior to the 

 best of our grouse. 



Some twenty odd years ago the first of the 

 ringnecks and other Chinese pheasants were 

 imported. The Hon. O. N. Denny, then the 



