public shooting. Many pheasants were shot for miles about 

 the farms of The Clove Valley Club, The Game Breeders' 

 Association, and other game breeding clubs, by persons who 

 had never shot a pheasant until the clubs began liberating them. 



The pheasant first introduced into England, which is now 

 often called the English pheasant, is the dark-necked species, 

 Colchicus, which has no white ring or collar about the neck. The 

 ring-necked pheasant, Torquatus, and other species were intro- 

 duced in England during the present century and the birds have 

 interbred to such an extent that it is said to be unusual to see a 

 pure bred dark-necked pheasant in the English markets. 



The birds first introduced into the United States were the 

 ring-necks, and these are more common everywhere than the 

 dark-necked birds are. In Austria and Hungary many dark- 



Rin^neeked 



necked birds are bred in a wild state and many breeders believe 

 that this species is less likely to stray and on this account it is 

 the better bird for wild breeding operations. I have reared 

 many birds of both species and they seem to be equally good 

 for hand-rearing operations. Both are good marks, but they 

 do not lie to the dogs as well as many species of our indigenous 

 game birds do, excepting on certain grounds where the running 

 is not good by reason of natural obstructions such as occur in 

 tufted marsh fields and other places where there are barriers 

 to speeding. 



The Mongolian pheasant, a large species having the white 

 collar, and the Prince of Wales pheasant, and a few others, are 

 considered desirable by breeders, but the common ring-necked 

 and dark-necked birds will, no doubt, become the most 

 plentiful here as elsewhere. 



56 



