20 CIECULAE 9 6, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



HABITATS FOR THE SPECIES RECOMMENDED 



A legitimate question to ask the proponent of game-bird introduc- 

 tion is whether there is any place to put introduced birds. This is 

 by no means an embarrassing query, for there are voids both small 

 and great that, metaphorically speaking, are crying to be filled. For 

 instance, in the States where the ring-necked pheasant has become 

 well established, the bird has settled just between the ruffed grouse, 

 a denizen of woodland, and the bobwhite, a lover of cultivated fields 

 and their immediate surroundings. The pheasant hardly comes into 

 competition with either of these birds, as shrubby pastures, brushy 

 gullies, and marshy tracts are its preference. The Hungarian par- 

 tridge, while favoring the same local surroundings as the bobwhite, 

 occupies them in a range farther north than the bobwhite can endure 

 the winters. Thus even in areas having a rather high degree of cul- 

 tivation, space can be found for introduced game birds that will 

 materially increase the total supply of game and at the same time 

 interfere to a minimum degree with the native stock. Birds besides 

 those mentioned that seem suitable for establishing in farming 

 regions are the Japanese pheasant, the guinea fowl, the peafowl, and 

 the red-legged partridges. 



Forests and cut-over lands that should be reforested comprise 

 about a fourth of the total land area of the United States. (Fig. 13.) 

 Included in this are sections like the scrub-oak plains of Long Island 

 and Marthas Vineyard, the blueberry barrens of Maine, the pine 

 barrens of New Jersey and of the South Atlantic States, areas that 

 never have had a dense growth of trees and now have no important 

 native game-bird population except for the bobwhite in the South. 

 On these and other open types of forest land can be placed in the 

 Northern States Reeves's pheasant, and more southwardly the golden 

 and Lady Amherst pheasants, tragopans, kaleege and copper pheas- 

 ants, and chachalacas; and on high mountains, Strauch's and the 

 cheer pheasants. 



Besides the fourth of our areas that is in actual or potential 

 forest, more than another fourth (fig. 14) of the whole is so arid 

 that it will not support agriculture. This land varies from the 

 grazing areas of the Great Plains to the barren deserts of the South- 

 west, and in general it has a scanty game-bird population. Space 

 here is almost unlimited for the species that are adapted to the 

 conditions, and it is here perhaps that the greatest opportunity is 

 afforded to add to the game stock of the country. If sand grouse 

 could be established in the deserts, how much more attractive these 

 areas would become, not to the sportsman alone, but to all observers 

 who are interested in wild life. There are numerous species in this 

 group, some of which might be established under one set of condi- 

 tions and others in different environments. Perfectly adapted to 

 sand and to desert life, sand grouse could be planted near water 

 supplies to hold them; later they would spread, as they readily fly 

 long distances for water. On moderately arid land, but always 

 within reach of water, Elliot's pheasant, the brown eared pheasant, 

 and the Persian pheasant can be used, while on ranches where hay- 

 producing crops thrive, tinamous and bustards should prove suitable. 



