PHEASANT FARMING 
ley as they are today. In fact, I am very positive they 
would have been more scarce because the hunter 
would have confined his attention to them and their 
extermination, for they cannot withstand the trained 
dog and pump and automatic gun, as the Chinese 
pheasant can. No one more sincerely deplores the 
passing of the native game birds than I, but I regard it 
as a most fortunate thing that the Chinese pheasant 
should come to take their place. Without him, there 
would not have been any game birds worth mention- 
ing. No one has ever followed a setter or a pointer 
after Chinese pheasants without being enthusiastic in 
their favor. Though I feel unpatriotic in saying it, 
yet for clean, unadulterated sport, the Chinese pheas- 
ant has everything in his favor. Then the fact that the 
pheasant produces two and sometimes three broods a 
year, is the strongest argument for their desirability 
as a permanent game bird over the native birds with 
their one brood. An unfavorable season may ma- 
terially reduce the broods of the native birds, but the 
pheasant has two or three chances in the season. 
“A few years ago, as a source of pleasure, I raised a 
few pheasants, and, encouraged by the success of the 
first season, the next year reared one hundred pairs. 
I have studied the birds both in the field and in cap- 
tivity. As to their hardiness, there is no question. 
People seem to have the idea, because of their gor- 
geous color, that they are tropical birds, but it should 
be remembered that they are natives of a cold part of 
China, and the fact that they are ready to eat prac- 
tically anything, assists them in securing sustenance 
at all times.”’ 
Ruffed Grouse Drumming on Log 
22 
