312 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



is shown by William C. Adams, director of the Division of Fisher- 

 ies and Game, who writes : " From the four game farms we have 

 shipped out 13,200 pheasant eggs, 1,554 adult pheasants, and 12,728 

 pheasants at least three months old." Incubators and brooders are 

 used, and the eggs and birds are distributed to individuals and local 

 game clubs throughout the State for liberation of the birds in the 

 wild. 



The pheasant is generally believed to be of Asiatic origin and at 

 a very early date Phasianus colchicus was introduced into Europe, 

 although Newton (1893-1896) thinks it not impossible that it may 

 have been indigenous to Europe. This species introduced into Eng- 

 land was called the English pheasant. Later the so-called Chinese, 

 or ring-necked, pheasant {Phasianus colchicus torquatus) was intro- 

 duced and hybridized with the pure colchicus, so that for the past 50 

 years nearly all English pheasants, according to F. C. R. Jourdain, 

 have had some trace at least of a white collar. Those first intro- 

 duced into Oregon were P. colchicus torquatus, the Chinese pheasant, 

 or Denny pheasant, as they were sometimes called, after Judge 

 Denny who introduced them; but those introduced in the eastern 

 part of the United States were the mixed colchicus and torquatus 

 race then existing in England, and birds and eggs have been widely 

 distributed over the country. The resulting mixture, however, is 

 generally called the ring-necked pheasant, Phasianus colchicus 

 torquatus. 



Courtship. — The cock ring-necked pheasant is a magnificent bird, 

 and the display of his brilliant plumage and beautiful form to the 

 best advantage before the demurely plumaged hens may well arouse 

 their admiration and passion. On English game preserves, where 

 only the males are killed, or in many of our own States where only 

 the cocks are allowed to be shot, each cock may have a large harem, 

 yet where the hens are not spared polygamy doubtless is still the 

 rule. J. G. Millais (1909) notes, however, that in a wild state one 

 rarely meets with more than three hens to a cock. Leffingwell (1928) 

 says : " My opinion is that pheasants are naturally polygamous in 

 the wild, but that some males may have monogamous tendencies. In 

 the spring it is most usual to see one male bird with several females." 

 He thus describes the display : 



The male runs around the female with short steps, usually with the tip 

 of the partly outstretched wing describing an arc on the ground, and stops in 

 front of her. The feathers of the upper back, lower back, rump, and tail are 

 shifted over to the side on which the female is, and the tail partly spread. The 

 neck is bent and the head kept low. Apparently the air sacs are partly in- 

 flated, for after the pose is held for several seconds, the plumage is allowed to 

 fall back to its natural position as the bird gives out a hissing sound. 



