PHEASANTS 



215 



called the Ringneck Pheasant, but the names " China Pheasant," 

 " Mongolian Pheasant," and others are also applied to it. The 

 second variety, also called Mongolian Pheasant, is said by some 

 authorities to be the only one to which the name " Mongolian " 

 properly applies. It is not quite like the Ringneck, but, like 

 it, has a white ring around the neck. From Japan still another 

 bird, called the Versicolor Pheasant, or Japanese -Versicolor 

 Pheasant, very similar in type, was brought to England. These 

 three varieties from Eastern Asia have been mixed with the 

 European pheasants to such an extent that there are now very 



FIG. 171. Manchurian Pheasant 



few pheasants of the type common in Europe before their in- 

 troduction, and good specimens of the oriental races are equally 

 rare. The principal English variety at the present time is a 

 Ringneck produced from the mixture. This is called the Eng- 

 lish Pheasant ; in England it is also sometimes called the Com- 

 mon Pheasant. The birds that breed at liberty in the United 

 States are mostly of the Ringneck type. 



Although they are very beautiful birds, the pheasants thus far 

 mentioned appear plain in comparison with the Silver and the 

 Golden Pheasants (which are the most common of the highly 

 ornamental varieties) and the Reeves and Amherst Pheasants. 



