4 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- 
