520 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



to the fauna of the region. In a few instances they 

 have interbred with the dusky grouse. 



During the last thirty years a number of different 

 exotic species have been suggested as useful birds for 

 American shooters. Pheasants have done fairly well in 

 certain eastern localities besides those mentioned. 

 Major W. A. Wads worth introduced them into the 

 Genesee Valley, and Dr. W. Seward Webb has a large 

 preserve in Vermont, where birds are hand-reared and 

 turned out to be shot in battues once or twice a year. 

 The Blooming Grove Park Association in Pennsylvania 

 has successfully raised pheasants, and each year the 

 members are permitted to kill a certain number, while 

 many other parks and associations, to say nothing of 

 some State farms and a multitude of commercial 

 people, have been engaged in the work of rearing these 

 handsome birds. It has been demonstrated that the 

 pheasant will endure the rigorous climate of the north, 

 at least as far as central or northern New York. 



The pheasants are not without their opponents. It 

 has been alleged that they destroy or drive off our 

 native game birds ; that they injure certain crops ; and 

 that while they themselves are immune to certain dis- 

 eases, they yet may communicate these diseases to our 

 native birds. 



The latest candidate for public favor on the roll of 

 foreign game birds is the so-called Hungarian par- 

 tridge the gray partridge of Europe. It is a bird 

 nearly as large as the ruffed grouse, and is hardy and 

 offers good shooting. It is only within three or four 



