il] INTRODUCTION.
xXVll

‘the British Isles, has not been naturalized with us, inasmuch as it is, of all game-birds, the most delicious,
of the British Isles, Ne

| I a t Ir re
O i ardi ada ) ed noreover according Oo \V Geor e

= ‘ = - woe. 6 aes nee
Chichester Oxenden, who bas seen and shot these birds in most European countries, ‘to every variety of
yichester O: ; S see

’ . oi E ° 7 av e he Acclimatization
| : I t= f ak-copses ut it 1s not too late in the day fom ti
cover, from pine-forests to hazel- apd oak copses. B

Society to take the Hazel-Hen in hand ; and if the localities were suitable for the purpose (and such there
society c az

are, no doubt, in England and Scotland), and the attempt were made with from twenty to fifty brace of
c 3 ’ 5

< . ”
these birds, I see no reason why it should not succeed.

That the introduction of the Pheasant, the Guinea-fow], and the Turkey has been to a certain extent
c

successful must be admitted; but it is toa certain extent only ; for it is believed by competent authorities
that the Pheasant if left to itself would die out in thirty years, and the Guinea-fowl and Turkey in a much
shorter time. Nursers, feeders, and watchers are absolutely necessary for the preservation of these three
birds, just as the safety and health of the Elands in Lord Hill’s Park at Hawkstone are dependent upon the

keeper who feeds and nightly shelters them during inclement seasons.

Had I not had ample experience on the subject of naturalization, I should not have prolonged these
remarks ; but having for the last forty years been a close observer of the denizens of the Gardens of the
Zoological Society of London, a Society justly popular for its interest and usefulness, I have not failed to
note that, however high our hopes may have been raised respecting the probability of the successful intro-
duction of many valuable species, nothing but bitter disappointment has been the result. Two or three
instances will suffice. Soon after the arrival of the beautiful Mandarin Ducks they commenced laying, and
hatched out several clutches of young. It was therefore only natural to infer that this lovely denizen of the
Celestial Empire would hereafter grace our ponds and lakes; but such has not been the case, and very
sparingly indeed does the bird breed after the second or third year of its introduction. Three species of the
equally beautiful Ceriornithes, or so-called Horned Pheasants, have at one time or other also graced the

gardens. They gave early evidence that they would reproduce their kinds; and many of them did so; but,

alas! the same result followed ; for in a very few years all, both old and young, sickened and died. A like
fate attended the fine Crossoptilons : they laid freely, and a numerous progeny were raised during the first

two or three years; but they ultimately all perished; and thus these fine and rare members of the

Phasianide, which formed “Ve ee i - :
d unrivalled ornaments to the Gardens in 1870, were in 1872 not to be seen.

Many other instances might be cited in Support of this view of the impossibility of naturalizing a foreign
species. Nature, as a rule, places each species in the locality best adapted to it; and its removal to any
other is pretty certain to end in failure. The attempts at introduction of these and othee bine Meee
society as the Zoological, however, have this good end: they enable the public and the scientific
ornithologist to view in a living state objects of which otherwise they could only inspect the dried skins—