A LOOK BACKWARD 



5*9 



Pierre Lorillard and Rutherford Stuyvesant and turned 

 out at various points in New Jersey and along the 

 border between that State and New York, stocked in a 

 limited way a considerable territory west of the Hudson 

 River. 



In the year 1881, nineteen Chinese pheasants were 

 imported to Victoria. Vancouver Island, and set free 

 there, while a law was enacted giving them absolute 

 protection for five years. They increased astonish- 

 ingly, so that when the closed time was ended there 

 was excellent shooting in the neighborhood of Victoria, 

 and it was estimated that during the first season not 

 less than 3,000 pheasants were killed. During the 

 winter the birds could be seen, sometimes along the 

 roadside and often in the cultivated fields, and were 

 evidently very abundant. 



The introduction of the pheasants in Oregon and 

 California was generally welcomed, and public feeling 

 protected the birds. It appeared that the climate was 

 well suited to them. They increased rapidly, and now 

 for many years have been abundant on the coast, but 

 chiefly in the region of great precipitation. They have 

 apparently not spread greatly to the south, into the dry 

 region of California, although in that State there are 

 believed to be some persons breeding pheasants in semi- 

 confinement in a small way. 



The birds are popular on the coast. Some fruit-rais- 

 ers, to be sure, declare that they injure the crops, but 

 on the whole they are regarded as a welcome addition 



