The Mongolian Pheasant 



necessities, and we find it most thoroughly and hopefully established in 

 the lower Santa Clara Valley and in the Owens River country. 



There are many factors which conspire to make the Mongolian Pheas- 

 ant the favorite, as it will be in suitable sections the dominant, game bird 

 of the West. In the first place, the male bird is a vision of loveliness, 

 gorgeous in coloring beyond the ability of a mere word-painter to depict, 

 occupying in this regard the same relation to other gallinaceous birds that 

 our Wood Duck does to other water- fowl. A cock Pheasant brought to 

 bag is both a dinner and a picture, a feast and a trophy. 



Then, and chiefly, the China Pheasant is a good rustler. Evolved in 

 his native land under conditions of the most strenuous competition, the 

 pheasant race has developed both adaptability and endurance, staying 

 qualities which give the bird an assured position in any situation remotely 

 similar to that afforded in China. Under protection, Pheasants avail 

 themselves of all the privileges, ranging freely across farms and cultivated 

 areas, finding sufficient cover in neglected fence-rows or wayside thickets, 

 and becoming so bold as to disregard the passer-by, and even to venture 

 into the farmyard to feed with the domestic fowls. Under persecution 

 the bird as quickly develops wariness and cunning, and is able, under 

 necessity, to maintain a thrifty existence in the forests and uncleared river 

 valleys, or in the swamps, in complete independence of men. It is even 

 able, and this is a vital point, to quickly discriminate between open and 

 close season, and to resume the warier life under the behest of a single 

 day's discipline. 



As a game bird, also, the China Pheasant ranks high. Its flesh is 

 above the average, and its pursuit involves all the elements of sagacity, 

 skill, and endurance which constitute upland shooting sport. The bird 

 lies well to a dog — that is, when cornered — but if he has a running chance, 

 the dog must win his point. Pheasants are cunning sneaks and swift 

 runners, and the cocks will sometimes travel at top speed for half a mile 

 before admitting defeat and crouching for the wing test. The bird leaps 

 into the air with a sudden cry, pauses for a fraction of a second to get his 

 course, then away on vigorous wings. 



The Pheasant is usually thus pursued with gun and dog, after the 

 fashion observed in case of all native grouse, and that moment of indeci- 

 sion which always comes after the bird is up is the favorable moment for 

 the gunner. But it is no mean test of skill to stop a Pheasant in mid- 

 flight when the hunt is en battue, after the English and Continental fashion. 



Stubble fields and open situations are the preferred range of the Ring- 

 necks, but they are quite at home in the jungle. They are especially to 

 be found at the borders of clearings, where their haunting presence is likely 

 to be resented by the pioneer who is trying to carve a garden out of a 



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