HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE 

 (Perdix perdix perdix) 



Often called European Partridge or, incor- 

 rectly, Hungarian Pheasant. Figure 8 shows the 

 range of this species to be the most extensive of 

 any species in Montana. Tpyical "hun" habitat 

 varies considerably over the state. In eastern 

 Montana the birds are found in the same general 

 habitat occupied by sharptails or sage grouse. In 

 central Montana it is the only game bird to 

 live in any numbers in intensively cultivated 

 wheat growing areas. In western Montana, aside 

 from inhabiting the cultivated irrigated regions, 

 it lives in sage brush stands and is the only game 

 bird to live commonly in dry cheat grass covered 

 hills. Most of the broods of young birds were seen 

 relatively close to water though some birds were 

 found several miles from water. 



RING-NECKED PHEASANT 



(Phasianus colchicus torquatus) 



Often called Chinese Pheasant or China Pheasant 



The range of this species (figure 9) is seen 

 to be closely associated with river valleys or irri- 

 gated regions. Even though the range map shows 

 this bird inhabiting only rather narrow strips 

 along the rivers, the abundance of the bird in 

 the areas it does inhabit probably makes it Mon- 

 tana's most abundant game bird. Good pheasant 

 habitat includes grain fields, irrigation ditches, 

 streams or pools, patches of thick brush, thick 

 feed covered fields, and mild enough winters to 

 enable the birds to obtain sufficient food during 

 these months. It is the hope of the Fish and Game 

 Department to establish strains which have more 

 Mongolian pheasant blood than Chinese pheasant 

 blood. If they are successful in doing this it may 

 be possible to obtain stable permanent pheasant 

 populations in many areas where they will not 

 live at present. It may be noted by referring to 

 the accompanying map how closely the present 

 range of Chinese pheasants follows the irrigated 

 valleys. 

 Poulation Trends of All Species: 



It is well known that the grouse of the eastern 

 and midwestern states undergo cyclic periods of 

 great scarcity followed by periods of recovery. 

 It is not known whether our grouse tend to fol- 

 low this 10 or 12 year cycle, but further studies 

 of our grouse populations will bring this out. We 



(above) — White-tail Ptarmigan. Winter plumage. Continental 



Divide between Sun River and Tlathead. (below) — Female 



Franklin's Grouse or Fool Hen. 



do know that all of the native grouse of Montana 

 reached unprecedented "lows" in their number 

 some 10 or 15 years ago. Until several years' 

 work has accumulated accurate records on the 

 abundance of birds, we shall have to rely largely 

 on the observations of reliable people who have 

 lived in the regions in question for many years 

 for figures on trends. 



There is little doubt that sharptails have 

 increased greatly during the past few years in 

 eastern Montana. Some eastern Montana resi- 

 dents go so far as to say they are as abundant 

 now as they have ever been. In the central coun- 

 ties the recovery is progressing at a slower pace, 

 and west of the divide the sharptail seems to be 

 nearly extinct with little hope of recovery. We 



[83] 



