More birds have been imported into New Zealand by private individuals since the 1990s and a healthy captive population is now held by backyard aviculturists and have been found to be easily cared for and bred and are popular for their song and good looks. A larger proportion of the national captive population belong to a few game preserves and game bird breeders. Though the birds would be self-sustaining in the wild if they were protected; it is tricky to guess what the effect of an annual population subsidy and hunting has on any of the original populations from the Acclimatisation Society releases. It would be fair to suggest most birds in the wild are no more than one generation from captive stock.