DISTRIBUTION. 43 



found hardier than either of the pure breeds from which it 

 is descended, and, as it is larger than the golden pheasant, 

 would make a better bird for the table, should anyone think 

 of killing and eating an object of such surpassing beauty. 



In the Eastern States the pheasants are in certain localities 

 doing very well; as many as a thousand birds have been 

 reared and turned out by a single keeper, and the pheasant 

 is generally regarded as the future game bird of the country, 

 as it is able to withstand very considerable variations of tempe- 

 rature. A number of game clubs have been formed for their 

 protection, and large numbers are raised in the Long Island 

 and other preserves. The Game Commissioners of various 

 states are encouraging their breeding, and, to quote the 

 words of the Boston Herald, " the outlook for the handsomest 

 and most delicious game bird in the world is quite rosy 

 in this country." 



In Nova Scotia the pheasant was introduced thirty years 

 ago by Professor Butler, and at once bred freely and flourished 

 in the open, despite of the winter cold of the climate. 



In the countries nearest to the locality from whence the 

 common pheasant is supposed to have been derived, it is 

 not, strange to say, abundant; thus Canon Tristram informs 

 us that it does not appear to be known in Syria. In 

 Greece, the Hon. T. L. Powys (afterwards Lord Lilford), 

 writing in The Ibis, states that " The only localities in which 

 I have seen pheasants in these parts were once on the Luro 

 river, near Prevesa, in March, 1857, on which occasion I only 

 saw one, the bird having never previously been met with in that 

 part of the country ; and again in December of the same year, 

 in the forests near the mouth of the River Drin, in Albania, 

 where it is comparatively common, and where several fell to 

 our guns. In this latter locality, the pheasant's habitat seems 

 to be confined to a radius of from twenty to thirty miles to the 

 north, east, and south of the town of Alessio a district for 

 the most part densely wooded and well watered, with 

 occasional tracts of cultivated ground, Indian corn being 



