PHEASANTS 213 



and released on his estate in New Jersey would soon become 

 established there. In this he was disappointed. Others who 

 subsequently tried the same plan met with no better success. 

 For a long time the only pheasants known in this country were 

 those grown in confinement by fanciers. 



The first successful attempt to establish pheasants at liberty 

 on this continent was made in Oregon with pheasants brought 

 direct from China. The United States consul at Shanghai sent 

 some Ringneck Pheasants to Oregon in 1880. As most of these 



FIG. 169. Mongolian Pheasant 



died on the way, a second shipment was sent in the following 

 year. In all about forty birds were liberated. The shooting of 

 pheasants was prohibited by law in Oregon until 1892, when 

 the stock had become so widely distributed and so well estab- 

 lished that shooting them was allowed for a short season. So 

 numerous were the pheasants at this time that on the first day 

 of this open season about 50,000 were shot by the hunters. In 

 many other states efforts have since been made, both by state 

 game commissions and by private enterprise, to acclimatize 

 pheasants and establish them as game birds. Some of these 

 efforts have been quite successful. 



