. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. 344 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 119 residential development with deciduous trees may have increased the amount of suitable habitat for EGS. Today, residential areas in the Victoria region and Lower Mainland are well treed with deciduous species. Gardens, bird feeders, garbage and hand-outs pro- vide an abundance of food while trees and human dwellings provide nesting locations. The first introduction of EGS to British Columbia occurred in 1909 when at least six individuals from the New York Park Department were broug
. The Canadian field-naturalist. Natural history; Sciences naturelles. 344 The Canadian Field-Naturalist Vol. 119 residential development with deciduous trees may have increased the amount of suitable habitat for EGS. Today, residential areas in the Victoria region and Lower Mainland are well treed with deciduous species. Gardens, bird feeders, garbage and hand-outs pro- vide an abundance of food while trees and human dwellings provide nesting locations. The first introduction of EGS to British Columbia occurred in 1909 when at least six individuals from the New York Park Department were brought to the peninsula of Stanley Park in Vancouver (Steele 1993). The population increased and had achieved a stable size by the 1920s (Robinson and McTaggart-Cowan 1954). Robinson and McTaggart-Cowan (1954) surveyed the population and natural history characteristics of EGS in Stanley Park in 1950. EGS were found predominant- ly in deciduous forests, mixed deciduous-conifer forests, and developed areas rather than in the conifer forests that dominate Stanley Park. Their diet was pri- marily composed of hand-outs from visitors, nuts from horticultural trees, and samaras from native maple trees. Although EGS are known to eat eggs and nestlings, these authors did not find any occurrences of this. The authors speculated that EGS would remain confined to Stanley Park because it was effectively an island, surrounded by the Burrard Inlet and downtown Van- couver. EGS remained on the peninsula until the mid- 1970s, when populations began spreading to adjacent areas (Merilees 1986, 1992; Gonzales 1999). EGS were first introduced to Vancouver Island in 1945 (Ringuette 2004). A small population was intro- duced to Beacon Hill Park in the city of Victoria. They disappeared, however, and the current population of EGS are believed to be descendants of an introduction that occurred in the autumn of 1966. Three individuals were acquired from southwestern Ontario for a private game farm in Metcho
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