322 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



elusion or quarantine when found necessary." Dr. J. C. Phillips 

 (1928), however, says "the interesting point is that the pheasant 

 may now easily infect territory at a distance from farmyards." 



Enemies. — Man, of course, is the pheasants' worst enemy in destroy- 

 ing them, but their best friend in conserving the stock that might 

 otherwise become extinct. All mammals that prey on eggs, and, if 

 they are powerful enough, on the sitting or roosting birds, like rats, 

 skunks, weasels, foxes, and coyotes, are more or less destructive to 

 pheasants. A few hawks and owls also take toll of pheasants, but 

 the damage done by these birds is probably insignificant, and their 

 influence may be of value in eliminating the feebler fliers and the 

 diseased birds. Crows, however, undoubtedly eat many pheasant 

 eggs and the far-wandering domestic cat is a very serious menace 

 to these ground-nesting birds. 



Winter. — When the ground is covered with a blanket of snow and 

 ice, pheasants are obliged to wander far for food. At this time, if 

 weed seeds are largely covered, they are driven to eat the buds of 

 bushes and trees and to seek manure and garbage heaps, and even to 

 partake with the poultry on a farm. At such times, if the salt 

 marshes are still open, they frequent these for small mollusks and 

 crustaceans. I have found the thinner snow under a tree scratched 

 away by pheasants in order to get at the seeds and dormant insects 

 on the ground. Sometimes the long tails of the males are frozen 

 to the snow and ice during the night and the birds held captive. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Introduced and now fairly well established in approx- 

 imately the northern half of the United States and in extreme 

 southern Canada. North to southern British Columbia (Vancouver 

 Island and Fraser Valley) ; southern Alberta; southern Manitoba; 

 southern Ontario (Kent County and north shore of Lake Erie) ; 

 central New York and Vermont (Lake Champlain region) ; central 

 New Hampshire (Concord, Hanover, and Plymouth) ; and south- 

 western Maine. East to the Atlantic coast. South to Maryland 

 (north of Baltimore); Pennsylvania; Ohio; Kentucky; Missouri; 

 Kansas; Colorado; and California (Inyo, Tulare, and Kern Coun- 

 ties and Santa Clara Valley). West to the Pacific coast. 



Introductions into the eastern Provinces of Canada and into the 

 States south of those named above have not been successful. 



Egg dates. — Washington and Oregon : 5 records, April 13 to June 

 17. California : 2 records, May 3 and June 10. Michigan, April 17. 

 Massachusetts, May 16. Pennsylvania: 2 records, May 12 and 

 June 4. 



