GAME BIEDS SUITABLE FOR NATURALIZING 15 



BROWN EARED PHEASANT 



One of the pheasants most available for introduction is the brown 

 eared pheasant (Crossoptilon mantehurieum). (Fig. 11.) It is not 

 a good sporting bird, however, for when pursued it habitually runs 

 to some high point and then scales off downhill. If regardless of 

 this fault the introduction of the bird is sought, it will be found 

 amenable to captivity, soon becoming tame and having evident pre- 

 dilections toward domestication. The eared pheasant is more of a 

 digger in its search for food than the ringneck, and feeds upon 

 tubers and rootlets in addition to insects, buds, and acorns. Its 

 digging propensities might make it objectionable on farms, a point 

 to be kept in mind when considering its introduction. Brown eared 

 pheasants ordinarily associate in flocks of 10 to 30. They inhabit 

 the bleak and barren plains and hills of northern China (apparently 

 not of Manchuria), which are swept by damp cold winds and fre- 

 quent bitter storms. Eared pheasants should succeed everywhere 



Figure 11. — Brown eared pheasant 



that the ringneck has succeeded, and even in areas where more severe 

 winter weather prevails, and in those of a more barren type. Locali- 

 ties suggested for experimentation are western Nebraska and Kansas 

 and other parts of the northern Great Plains, the eastern foothills 

 of the Rocky and Cascade Mountains, and the eastern slopes of the 

 mountains of central California. 



ELLIOT'S PHEASANT 



Adapted to still more barren country than the eared pheasant is 

 the Chinese " fowl of the dry places," or Elliot's pheasant (Syrma- 

 ticus elHoti), a long-tailed bird with chiefly rich golden-bay plum- 

 age. Its natural home is the mountains of southeastern China, and 

 it should be possible to acclimatize it in the mountains of western 

 Texas and southern Arizona and New Mexico. 



