A LOOK BACKWARD 517 



the legislatures, backed up the work which Forest and 

 Stream had set on foot. 



Meantime, sportsmen at large discussed with much 

 earnestness the question of what should be done to re- 

 stock the game covers. The first efforts took the direc- 

 tion of importing bobwhites from the South and turn- 

 ing them loose in covers that had been shot out. This 

 was done, but the birds were soon killed off, for no 

 one seemed to think of stopping shooting. Then came 

 the idea of importing foreign birds, and about 1878 or 

 '79 some one suggested the importation to America of 

 the Old World quail (Coturnix), a migratory bird 

 which breeds in Central and Northern Europe, goes 

 south in autumn, crosses the Mediterranean and 

 spends the winter months in Africa. These birds were 

 easily obtained and were inexpensive. Considerable 

 numbers of them were imported. They appeared to 

 take readily to their new home and many of them bred. 

 Nevertheless, after a time they disappeared without 

 any apparent cause. It was reported that flocks of 

 them had flown out to sea and been drowned, and it is 

 quite possible that, migrating to the shores of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, they attempted to cross that body of water 

 and perished. At all events it is now many years since 

 one of these birds has been authentically reported as 

 taken in America. 



Attempts were made to acclimatize the English 

 pheasant in the United States a hundred years ago, but 

 the birds turned loose in New Jersey all disappeared. 

 Another attempt was made early in the nineteenth cen- 



