CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 365 



AN EXPERIMENT IN QUAIL IMPORTATION 



By Gordon H. True, Jr. 



When the Division of Fish and Game inangurated its qnail replen- 

 ishment program in southern California early in 1932, the valley quail 

 that were used for restocking were solely the product of the Los Ser- 

 ranos State Game Farm, at Chino. During the following season, the 

 increase in the total acreage of available refuge lands warranted the 

 purchase of birds from private breeders to supplement the production 

 of the game farm. Over nine thousand quail were liberated during this 

 2-year period. It was then that the Commission conceived the idea 

 of importing valley quail from the west coast of Lower California 

 since, by so doing, the volume of birds available for restocking purposes 

 might be immeasurably increased and the cost of the program to the 

 sportsmen materially reduced. The author wishes to take this oppor- 

 tunity to present to the sportsmen an account of our operations in this 

 direction, an experiment that will most certainly react in their favor. 



Negotiations were officially set in motion during the month of 

 September, 1933. Since the Division did not number among its 

 personnel a man with a thorough understanding of the Mexican, his 

 language and methods, the first step was to enlist the aid of such a 

 personage. In San Ysidro, California, we found H. S. Weir, a man who 

 possessed all the desired qualifications and who willingly consented to 

 act in the capacity of official intermediary between the Division and 

 the Mexican government. Preliminary negotiations consumed much of 

 the fall of 1933 and it was not until the month of December that they 

 had been completed and we were able to proceed. Time was then short, 

 with the rainy season rapidly approaching, but the Division was none 

 the less elated for it held in its hands written permission to import from 

 Mexico a total of one hundred thousand quail. The Mexican govern- 

 ment graciously consented to waive the export tariffs in the case of all 

 birds destined for southern California refuges. On December 23, 

 1933, the first truck load of birds passed over the border. 



The quail were secured by Mexican trappers, and brought to the 

 border by truck where they were delivered to representatives of the 

 Division at San Ysidro. According to a regulation of the Mexican 

 Department of Agriculture, trapping activities were confined to terri- 

 tory south of the village of San Telmo, Lower California, situated at a 

 distance of some two hundred miles below the border. Each shipment 

 was inspected by a Mexican official resident at San Telmo, was sealed by 

 him and taken to San Ysidro without further formality. It had been 

 hoped that the Lower California birds could be liberated immediately 

 upon their arrival on southern California soil, but, it was later deemed 

 advisable to alter the original plan. The long, rough, dusty journey 

 from San Telmo to the border resulted in a number being dead or in 

 a dying condition upon arrival. Consequently, each shipment was 

 taken to Chino and held at the game farm until the birds had recuper- 

 ated from the effects of the rough handling they had received. After a 



