180 NESTB AXD EQaS OF 



This is certainly a welcome foreigner to our shores. As an Introduced species 

 this pheasant of magnificent plumage is now common in various localities of the 

 "United States, especially in Oregon and southward into California. It is common 

 in portions of Idaho, where it has been found breeding in numbers. The whole 

 plumage of the male of this species is of such gorgeous, changeable hues as not to 

 permit a full description here. The female is much smaller than the male and of 

 a uniform pale yellow, with light shades and spots of brown, black and gray. It is 

 known by two other names: Chinese and Mongolian Pheasant The male measures 

 from 34 to 40 inches; the tail being from 15 to 24 inches. It is a very hardy bird and 

 Irom the evidence I have at hand it will propogate in any temperate latitude. A 

 number of pairs of this splendid bird have been liberated in several localities in 

 Ohio, and are protected by law until they become established sufficiently to make 

 their ultimate extermination by the gun impossible. As a table bird Its flesh is 

 among the finest and for beauty of plumage it has few equals. Both of these quali- 

 ties will be great agents in its protection from total extermination. Dr. A. G. Prill, 

 of Sodaville, Oregon, writes me that the legislature of Oregon in the winter of 

 1894-95 passed an act changing the name of this pheasant, calling it Denny's Pheas- 

 ant in honor of Judge 0. N. Denny, of Portland, Oregon, who, about twelve years 

 ago imported six pairs, which were liberated and protected by law, and they have 

 since multiplied to the extent as above stated. The males crow and fight similar 

 to the domestic cock. Dr. Prill states that the nest is made upon the ground in open 

 fields; it is made of leaves and dry grass, built in a tussock of grass or perhaps under 

 some small bush. Three broods are generally raised in a season and from seven 

 to fifteen eggs are laid, and the first complement of eggs is deposited by April 15, or 

 by May 1st. A set of thirteen of this bird's eggs are in my collection, collected by 

 Dr. Prill near Sodaville, Oregon, April 8, 1895; they are a buff color with a cast of 

 bluish over the surface; three of the specimens, however, are of a yellowish buff 

 throughout. Their average size is 1.61x1.31. Dr. Prill says that the birds nest and 

 breed in captivity and do well. In order to show the value of this excellent bird 

 I quote the following from a letter to the editor of the "Oregon Naturalist." It is 

 from Mr. F. S. Matteson, of Turner, Oregon. He says: "Noting your article, 'The 

 Denny Pheasant,' please allow me to say: The food which he dearly loves is grass- 

 hoppers, cutworms, crickets, etc., and the chicks especially are very fond of aphids, 

 flea beetles, etc. Turn a domestic hen with a brood of pheasant chicks into your 

 cabbage lot and you will have no cabbage aphid, or flea-Leetle. We have tried it. 

 We used to think they would prove a nuisance, when they first became numerous, 

 but our further acquaintance has changed our views. They pay for all they eat, 

 and more. It may be that they will crowd out some native birds, but if these latter 

 are supplanted by a better, why should we mourn? They are fully as useful insect 

 destroyers as our quail, or native pheasants, and they are hardier, and better cal- 

 culated to take care of themselves from skunks, hawks, crows, trappers, pot-hunters, 

 etc. Our hens, in confinement, laid over 100 eggs each last summer, and we now 

 have a pheasant hen sitting. We have now the third generation from the wild state, 

 and the birds are notably gentler to us. When strangers come around they appear 

 wild. You say 'this bird will hybridize .with the domestic hen.' Please permit me 

 to doubt! Our experience does not point that way yet. But he is the game bird 

 par excellence, and we are that much ahead of our eastern brothers. He is a beauty, 

 a fighter; and is useful as well as ornamental. 



310. WILDTTJBKET. Melcagris sallopavo Unn. Geog. Dist— Eastern United 

 Slates, north to Southern Canada, south to Florida and Eastern Texas, west to the 

 Great Plains. 



