Abstract
During the first half of the nineteenth century, had you ventured into a meat market in New York or Baltimore, you might well have encountered a rather "fishy" tasting duck offered for sale. That duck, often said to have rotted as few desired to eat them, was that of a Labrador Duck (Camptorbyncbus labradorius), a now extinct species. While discovered inhabiting the northeast seaboard in 1789, the duck, for reasons unknown, had disappeared by 1878.
While at least four species of waterfowl have passed into extinction, I know of only one Gallinaceous bird, the Himalayan Mountain Quail (Opbrysia superciliosa) that can be added to that list. This is not to say that many additional species are not heading in this direction. Habitat modification and hunting seem to be reducing gamebird numbers everywhere at a rapid rate. While efforts by the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP) and the World Pheasant Association have made some substantial progress in aiding some of these species, as you can see from the list at the end of this article, they have a rather formidable challenge ahead of them.
While it is encouraging to note that a number of species facing troubles in the wild are well represented in captivity, it is equally saddening that most are not. Having had the pleasure of working with tragopans, as well as brown-, blue- and white-eared pheasants in the late sixties, I know well of their awe-inspiring beauty. Anyone who is tempted to associate bright colors of enchanting combinations with only small birds needs to visit a pheasant collection. We can only hope that the next ICBP list contains no more, perhaps fewer, species of gamebirds. In order to help and/or learn more about pheasant conservation, write to:
World Pheasant Association,
P.O. Box 5, Child Beale Wildlife Trust, Lower Basildon, Readings RG8 9PF,
England.
Threatened Gamebirds taken from "Birds to Watch", ICBP Technical Publication No. 8, Smithsonian Institution Press, Collar and Andrews, editors, 1988.
Threatened Ducks and Geese West Indian Whistling Duck Hawaiian Goose
Freckled Duck
Crested Shelduck
Baykal Teal
New Zealand Brown Teal
Laysan Duck
Pink-headed Duck
Madagascar Pochard
Scaly-sided Merganser
Lesser White-fronted Goose Red-breasted Goose
Ruddy-headed Goose
White-winged Duck
Madagascar Teal
Hawaiian Duck
Marbled Teal
Baer 's Pochard
Brazilian Merganser
White-headed Duck
Threatened Pheasants, Francolins, Quail & Peafowl Bearded Wood-partridge
Gorgeted Wood-quail
Mount Cameroon Francolin
Nahan's Francolin
Manipur Bush Quail
Rickert's Hill-partridge Chestnut-headed Partridge
Chestnut- necklaced Partridge Western Tragopan
Cabot's Tragopan
Chinese Monal
Vo Quys Pheasant Swinhoe's Pheasant Crested Fireback Bulwer's Pheasant Brown-eared Pheasant Hume's Pheasant Reeve's Pheasant
Malaysian Peacock-pheasant Crested Argus
Congo Peacock
Chestnut Wood-quail Djibouti Francolin Swierstra's Francolin Swamp Partridge
Sichuan Hill-partridge Orange-necked Partridge White-eared Hill-partridge Himalayan Quail
Blyth's Tragopan
Sclater's Monal
Imperial Pheasant
Edwards' Pheasant Salvadori's Pheasant Siamese Fireback White-eared Pheasant Cheer Pheasant
Mikado Pheasant
Germain's Peacock-pheasant Palawan Peacock-pheasant Green Peafowl •