Wayne Weber wrote,

< Two different subspecies of Mountain Quail occur in Oregon, according
to "Birds of Oregon: A General Reference" (Marshall et al., 2003):
"pictus" west of the Cascades, and "palmeri", a paler subspecies, east
of the Cascades (and also in SE Washington). The AOU Checklist, 5th
edition (1957) reverses the names for the two subspecies, but agrees
that there are different subspecies west and east of the Cascades.

< In other words, birds from a subspecies other than the native one are
being introduced into Asotin County. Chances are that they will not be
well-adapted to local conditions and will die out; or, if they do
succeed, they will interbreed with or replace the native subspecies,
thus decreasing the genetic diversity within the species.

Weeellll, yeah, on the whole you're probably right. But I kinda think we think we know more about population biology than we really do. Who knows what the genetic differences are between the subspecies . . . and, BTW, let's remember that "subspecies" implies that there's already some gene flow between them, right? Maybe the introduction of more genes from the other subspecies is just what the resident subspecies needs. Creating a few "hybrids" (if that's the right word here) would actually increase the genetic diversity of the species. Maybe they've been dying out because of the Red Queen effect; they've been running as fast as they can genetically to stay adapted, and they're falling behind. While the policy you advocate is probably right in general, when the boat is leaky and sinking, anything that might keep it afloat is welcome.

Cheers to all,

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503