212 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Origin. The pheasants are all natives of Asia, where nearly 

 all known kinds are found in the wild state. They are well dis- 

 tributed over that continent, and are found in localities differing 

 greatly in climate and in the character of the soil and of the 

 vegetation. Some species live mostly at low altitudes ; others 

 are peculiar to high mountain regions. According to an old 

 Greek legend the first pheasants known in Europe were brought 

 to Greece by the Argonauts on their return from the expedition 

 in search of the Golden Fleece. A more probable story is that 

 which says that they were introduced in the time of Alexander 

 the Great. Pheasants were reared in confinement for food by 



FIG. 1 68. Ringneck Pheasant 1 



the Greeks and the Egyptians, and also later by the Romans in 

 Italy. Both the rearing and the use of pheasants in those times 

 seem to have been limited to the very wealthy. From Greece 

 and Italy they were gradually distributed all over Europe. 



History in America. The history of pheasants in America 

 is much more fully known than that of most kinds of poultry. 

 The first importation of which there is a record was made by 

 an Englishman named Bache, who had married a daughter of 

 Benjamin Franklin. In England at that time pheasants were 

 propagated, as they are to-day, in a half-wild state in game pre- 

 serves, and Mr. Bache expected that those which he imported 



1 Figs. 168-172 are from photographs of mounted specimens in the National Museum, 

 made to illustrate " Pheasant Raising in the United States," Farmers' Bulletin No. ^90 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture. 



