36 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Ringneck Pheasant into Oregon, and since then acclimatization experiments have followed 

 broader lines and have assumed greater importance. 



The failure of many efforts to add Pheasants to our fauna is largely due to insufficient 

 knowledge of their habits and the character of their normal environment. It is useless 

 to undertake to acclimatize a bird in a region differing widely in climatic and other physical 

 conditions from those to which it has been accustomed. 



It must be remembered, also, that introduced birds have to adapt themselves to a new 

 flora and fauna, and that this is often a slow process and frequently fails. If liberated in 

 the wilds, they must be provided with reserve food and shelter until able to care for them- 

 selves, which may take several years. In Oregon the Ringnecks put out came at first regu- 

 larly to farm-yards to feed with the domestic fowls; and English Ringnecks liberated on 

 Grand Island, Michigan, were driven back by severe weather to the pens from which they 

 had been allowed to escape a few months before. 



If Pheasants are imported for stocking preserves, suitable coverts should be pre- 

 pared for them. In their native country Pheasants frequent the margins of woods, 



coming into open tracts in search of food, 

 retreating into thick undergrowth when 

 alarmed. An ideal Pheasant country is one 

 containing small groves with underbrush and 

 high grass between the trees, thorny hedges, 

 berry-growing shrubs, water overgrown with 

 reeds, and occasional pastures, meadows, and 

 cultivated grain-fields. Bleak mountains, 

 dry sandy wastes, and thick woods are not 

 frequented by Pheasants normally; nor 

 do they seek pines, except for protection. 

 A small grove of mixed evergreen and 

 deciduous trees on the southern slope of a 

 hill furnishes favorable shelter. On the pre- 

 serve additional shelter should be provided 

 in winter. 



Henry Oldys, in Pheasant 

 Raising in the United States. 



Photo by W. T. U, 



Courtesy of Nat. Asso. Aud. Soc. 



PHEASANT'S NEST 

 Gardiners Island, New York 



ENGLISH PHEASANT 

 Phasianus colchicus Linnccus 



Length. — Male, 2(> inches or less according to devel- 

 opment of the tail, tail up to 21 inches; female, about 

 .?4 inches, tail 12 inches. Slightly larger than the Ring- 

 necked Pheasant. 



Spread of Wings. — 32 inches. 



Weight. — Male, about 3 pounds; female, about 2 

 pounds. 



Description. — Male: Tail very long, coneate, taper- 

 ing; head with ear tufts and finely mottled sides; head 



and neck peacock-blue, glossed with metallic reflections 

 of green, bronze, and purple; sides of head. bare, 

 scarlet ; back, orange-brown, variegated with dark 

 green, bufif, and black ; rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 rufous, with black and reddish variegations; tail, olive- 

 brown, edged with purplish-rufous, and barred with 

 black ; breast, glossy, coppery chestnut, edged with pur- 

 plish ; no rings about the neck. Female; Plain blended 

 light brown and dusky. 



RING-NECKED PHEASANT 

 Phasianus torquatus Gmelin 



Length. — 34 inches when the tail is full-grown. 

 Spread of Wings. — 32 inches. 

 Weight. — 2.)4 pounds or more. 



Description. — Similar in general color to the English 

 Pheasant, but male with a conspicuous white ring about 



the neck; top of head, more greenish-bronze and a whit- 

 ish line on sides of crown ; the sides, golden buff 

 spotted with black ; the upper wing-coverts, pale gray- 

 ish-blue ; the sides of the rump, grayish-blue; abdomen, 

 greenish-black. 



