GAME AS A IS"ATIOiS^AL KESOUKCE. 35 



japonica) was being- imported from China for the San Francisco 

 market, some sporadic efforts were made to acclimatize the birds in 

 California. These qnail were imported alive in large numbers and 

 it was easy to obtain stock at certain seasons, but like the Messina- 

 cjuail they Avere migratory and the experiment of introducing them 

 as a game bird proved a failure. 



The plan of introducing Old World quail having proved unsuccess- 

 ful, eiforts were made to obtain native stock from States where quail 

 were still abundant. In the late nineties large numbers of quail were 

 shipped east, north, and west from Kansas and Indian Territorj-. 

 The demand for these birds grew to such an extent that it was impos- 

 sible to suppbf the market, and the States where the birds were cap- 

 tured, fearing serious depletion of the stock, prohibited export. In 

 1907, the last year in which any considerable number of quail were 

 captured for shipment in the United States, a disease, commonly 

 known as quail disease {G olibacillosis tetraonidarum) , was discovered 

 in a number of consignments sent to points in the North and East 

 from Alabama and the Southwest. Three or four years later, because 

 of the scarcity of native birds, efforts were made to obtain stock in 

 noitheastern Mexico, but each season, notwithstanding the precau- 

 tions and quarantine regulations, quail disease appeared in some of 

 the shipments. In the winter of 1916-17 the importations of Mexican 

 quail totaled 32,814 ; about half of these birds were obtained by the 

 game commissions of two northern States and more than 50 per cent 

 of them died soon after they were distributed. In the winter of 

 1919-20, 864 birds imported died in quarantine or were returned to 

 Mexico because they were infected with quail disease. Many others 

 died after reaching their destinations. The total number entered that 

 season was 22,209. 



Hungarian partridges.— The difficulty in securing an adequate sup- 

 ply of native quail encouraged importers to endeavor to meet the 

 deficiency by bringing in the European gray partridge {Perdix 

 perdix) under the name of Hungarian partridge. The advantages 

 of introducing the bird were widely advertised and a thriving trade 

 was developed by a few importers. Game commissioners and game 

 protective associations were induced to liberate the birds in as large 

 numbers as the funds at their disposal would permit. In some 

 instances favorable reports of the success of these experiments were 

 made for the first year or two after the birds were liberated, but in 

 most States the introductions were unsuccessful except in eastern 

 Washington. The birds usually sold for $5 or $6 per pair, and from 

 1906 to 1915 many thousands were imported. High-water mark was 

 reached in 1914, when 36,760 were brought in, while the total number 

 imported during the decade was 174,294. Thousands of dollars were 

 expended, but comparatively few partridges can now be found in 



