DISTRIBUTION. 4;] 



found hardier than either of the ]iure breeds from which it 

 is descended, and, as it is Lirgor than the g'(jlden pheasant, 

 T\'(ju]d make a better bird for the tafjle, shonld anycjTie think 

 of kilHng and eating an oljject of such surpassing beauty. 



In the Eastern States the pheasants are in certain hjcabties 

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

 reared and turned out by a single keej^er, and the plieasant 

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

 as it is alile to withstand very considerable variations of tem]ie- 

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

 protection, and hirge numbers are raised in the Ijoug Island 

 and other preserves. The (laine Commissioners of various 

 states are eucourag'ing their l)reeding, an<l, to ([note the 

 Words of the Bontcni Herald , " the outlook for the handsomest 

 and most delicious game bird m the world is quite rosy 

 in this country." 



In Nova Scotia the pheasant was introduced thirty years 

 ago by Professor Butlei-, and at once bred freely^ and flourished 

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



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 iiil(_)rms 

 us that it does not ap])ear to be known m Syria. In 

 Greece, the Hon. T. L. Powys (afterwards jjord ijilfurd), 

 writing m Tlie Ihis, states that "The only localities in which 

 I have seen pheasants in these jiarts were once (in the Luro 

 river, near Prevesa, m IVIarch, 18.57, on which occasion I only 

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

 part of the country; and again in D(_'ceml)er of the same year, 

 in the f(.irests near the mouth of the Kiver fJrin, in Alljania, 

 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 milc^'S to the 

 north, east, and south vi the t(jwn of Alessio — a district ti.>r 

 the most ]iart densely wooded and well watered, with 

 occasional tracts of cultivated grotmd, Indian corn being 



