INTIWIJIH'TION INTO AMERICA. 41 



imsuitable, and they have been reliuf|ui.she(l. An ontljvcak 

 of " cholera," probably identical with our enteritis, which 

 occurred in July, lUOl, conduced to this. A siimlar epidemic 

 broke out in 1906 in Massachusetts, but o,0U() birds were sli(jt 

 in the succeeding open season of one month. 



In New York State rearing has ncit been very successful, 

 but a State game ]n'eservo has been established where breeding 

 will be resumed. In Indiana it is estimated that the stock of 

 jiheasants numbers from (),00(» t(j 8,000. In llliuois expei'i- 

 nieuts liave been conducted on a large scale, 2(I,(JU() eggs 

 being distributed, in addition to lo,l.HJ() hatched on the game 

 farm, in 1908. In Utah a stock of ring-necks, liberated in 

 1895, were reportetl as doing vei-v well in 1900. lu ^Miniies(jta 

 an attempt, made in 1905, to introduce pheasa.nts was rendered 

 abortive owing to great mortality amongst the chicks, lu 

 Delaware, too, the attempt endi.il in failure, but Kansas has 

 been more successful, 8,000 ring-necks, turned down in lOOti, 

 being reported to have done well. Many have been lilierated 

 in Colorado in recent yeai'S with results that are not yet 

 accurately known. 



It is possible that in many cases failure may be attributable 

 to a want of experience in the management of the birds, as 

 well as to climatic influences and the jirevalence of natural 

 enemies. English gainekeepers have been eniployeti in some 

 instances, in others American methods are adopted. < In the 

 whole, the conditiems that prevail in British Columbia and the 

 States of the PaciHc Ctr.i^t appear to be more favourable 

 to their propagation than those found east of the liocky 

 iMountains. Thus, in \'ancouver Iskiud and some of the Culf 

 Islands pheasants have become so numerous that complaints 

 are said to have been made of the mischief they effect in gram 

 and potato fields; but the farmers generally speak favourably 

 of them. 



In Oregon, too, they have spread and multiplied so well 

 that complaints are made of their depredations in the grain 

 fields. The reports of the residents to the official impiiries 



