The China or Denny Pheasant in Oregon 
IDWAY between the states of California and Washington, among the lowest 
western foot-hills of the Cascades, stands a butte, low and weathered, worn 
down almost to a cone, yet so bold as to form a landmark toward which wandering 
Oregonians of the Willamette turn fondly as to scenes of earlier days. Close by to the 
north flows the graceful Santiam fresh from mountains of fir and alder from which it 
comes, step by step, over beautiful waterfalls, sparkling cascades, and swirling eddies, 
murmuring there the subdued song of a high-altitude water-thread, by whose side the 
weary dust-worn desert traveller, from the sage plains far to the east, drinks and is 
rested. Below, it flows calmly on across broad prairies to join the beautiful Willamette. 
Here, by stream and butte, among the hills and grassy slopes, was liberated the China 
or Denny pheasant, destined to become with remarkable rapidity Oregon’s most 
renowned game-bird. 
The story of the introduction of the Chinese pheasant— sometimes called ring-necked 
into Oregon is a simple one, yet none the less remarkable in its far-reaching results, for 
this experiment by the Willamette has undoubtedly given fresh and vigorous impetus to the 
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