By Ferd. J. Sudow, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



53 



But as he had expected, they returned in the spring, their identity being established by the 

 holes made in their webbed feet with a chicken punch. 



"Yes, pheasants, particularly the Chinese ringneck, are very hardy birds and in their 

 native countries some species range up into the extremely high mountains. Those that I 

 have hberated here are multiplying by the thousand and are doing finely. I beUeve that they 

 can easily be acclimatized in any suitable locahty in the United States or southern Canada. 

 It would be difficult to find a better cover for them than is to be had in those portions of .M- 

 berta and Saskatchewan, where clumps and groves of poplar trees abound, affording choice 

 loitering places. The work, too, is clean and very fascinating, and could be made profitable 

 for men and women." 



The pheasants that have been introduced into this country have taken up their home in 

 the brushy skirtings of the woods, fields and country roads, where there is also a rank growth 

 of weeds and grass. They can likewise be found in and near marshes, but unlike our ruffed 

 grouse, they do not inhabit the heavy timber; their habits resembling those of eastern bob- 

 white. 



A corner of The Kendrick Pheasantries at City Park, Denver 



In sections of the country where the pheasants have been protected since their introduc- 

 tion, they are very tame and lie close, allowing a person to almost step on them before taking 

 flight. In fact, the writer can recall an instance where a hen, hiding in some reeds, could 

 easily have been caught in his hands. 



During a day's hunt indulged in by a friend and myself near Albany, Oregon, we bagged 

 twelve birds and must have flushed at least a hundred, two-thirds of which got up far out of 

 gunshot. I was astonished at the amount of shot a cock bird could carry away. Many 

 times, judging from the cloud of feathers, we literally flUed the bird with lead yet he would 

 continue his course until out of sight. 



The cock old pheasants are armed with long spurs like those of a rooster. They are 

 aggressive birds, constantly fighting with one another in the spring, during mating time, but 

 during the balance of the year they are quiet as quail or common birds. 



I do not agree with Mr. Kendrick placing the coops only 40 feet apart. The reason I 

 advise to distance the coops at least 80 to 100 feet apart is in order tor the chicks not to stray 

 from their original mother and coop. If the chicks are of different sizes they are in danger 

 of being killed, if by mistake they get into another hen's coop, because some hens are very 

 cross to strange chicks and will pick them to death. Again if the chicks are of the same size 

 they may take a fancy to a certain hen, crowding into one coop at night and not being prop- 

 erly brooded get chilled which is in many instances fatal to the chicks. 



To avoid loosing your good valuable time looking for your tools make it a point to have 

 only one and the same place for them and a handy one. 



