GAME BIEDS SUITABLE FOE NATURALIZING 17 



Much more can be done with the ring-necked group of pheasants 

 also than has been done to date. Covering so vast a range, these 

 birds are adapted in numerous local races or subspecies to a number 

 of different types of environment. For instance. Prince of Wales's 

 pheasant (Phasianus colckicus principalis) inhabits grass jungles 

 along rivers; the Chinese ringneck {P. c. torquatus) takes cover in 

 reed beds and forages in open woods and cultivated fields ; Strauch's 

 pheasant (P. c. strauchi) ranges up to an altitude of 10,000 feet in the 

 mountains of western China, and it could be used to extend the 

 vertical distribution of pheasants in the United States, which now 

 scarcely exceeds 2,500 feet; the Persian pheasant (P. c. persicus) 

 lives on plains and feeds on juniper berries, which it could do on the 

 Oregon and Washington deserts; and the Mongolian pheasant 

 (P. c. mongolians) lives among tamarisk-covered sand dimes, similar 

 to some stretches of American seashores. The Japanese pheasant 

 (p. 14) has been established in Hawaii ; hence it seems better adapted 

 to warm climes than most of its relatives. If such specialized birds 

 were introduced into parts of the country having local conditions 

 similar to those of their native homes, probably a large part of the 

 whole country might be occupied by a population of intergrading 

 local races of ring-necked pheasants, much as in their present great 

 Asiatic range. 



HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE 2 



The Hungarian partridge {Perdix perdix) already widely intro- 

 duced, is a game bird of the same type as that favorite of the Ameri- 

 can sportsman, the bobwhite. It lies as well to dogs as does the bob- 

 white and has the same great burst of speed when flushed. It is a 

 larger and hardier species, however, and should solve the long- 

 standing problem of maintaining a game bird of its type in the 

 Northern States, where the bobwhite is killed out every few years 

 by a severe winter. It has already proved a great success in south- 

 western Canada and should be perfectly hardy in all the Northern 

 States. Partridges prefer rolling and partly cultivated land. They 

 frequent grainfielcls before cutting, and the stubble afterward and 

 have shown their fondness for cornfields where the shocks have been 

 left standing. Their suitability for this country has been demon- 

 strated, and their range here can be almost indefinitely extended. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES 



Red-legged partridges (Alectoris spp.), relatives of the Hungarian 

 partridges, but trusting as much to their legs as to their wings and on 

 that account not so popular with sportsmen, inhabit southern Europe 

 and northern Africa and penetrate into Asia as far as India. They 

 might be used to supplement a waning game supply in any part of 

 the Southern States where the bobwhite can not be maintained in 

 abundance, and include some species suited even to desert condi- 

 tions. The red-legged partridges have the advantage of frequenting 

 more barren tracts than the Hungarian partridge. 



2 See pp. 6 and 7. 



