22 
TURKEYS AND PHEASANTS. 
ENGLISH PHEASANT. 
PhASIANUS COl.CHICXJS. 
Char. Male : plumage exquisitely beautiful, but too variegated to be 
minutely described in a short paragraph. The principal colors are brown 
of several shades, orange-red, yellow, and black ; and these are distributed 
in handsome markings and pencillings. Head and neck steel blue, with 
metallic reflections of green and purple; breast golden red, each feather 
edged with velvet black ; tail-fe.athers very long, — the two middle feathers 
sometimes measuring two feet, — yellowish brown, with narrow bars of 
black. P'emale : duller ; yellowish brown, with markings of darker brown 
and some black. Length of male, including tail-feathers, about 3 feet ; of 
female about 2 feet. 
Nest. In thicket or dense hedge, a slight hollow scratched out by 
female, partially lined with loosely arranged leaves and grass. Occa- 
sionally a deserted nest in a tree has been used. 
Eggs. 8-14 (usually about 12, sometimes 16 or 20), olive brown, some- 
times bluish green ; 1.85 X i-AS- 
I have called this the “ English ” Pheasant to distinguish it from 
other species that have been introduced into this country. In 
England it is known as “ Pheasant,” or “ Common Pheasant.” 
It fs not indigenous to Great Britain, though when it was intro- 
duced there is not known, some writers asserting that it was 
carried by the Romans, while others consider the Norman Con- 
quest responsible for its introduction. The true home of the bird 
is the valleys of the Caucasus and the eastern shores of the Cas- 
pian Sea, but it has been introduced into almost every country of 
Europe. In Great Britain very few thorough-bred specimens are 
to be found, most of the birds displaying a collar of white, — which 
proves their relationship to the Ring-necked Pheasants brought 
from China. Other species, as well, have been introduced and suc- 
cessfully bred with both true colchicus and hybrids. 
Within a few years the present species has been introduced into 
this country by Mr. C. B. Cory — who loosed several pairs on 
Great Island, off the southern shore of Cape Cod and by a club 
of sportsmen who have stocked Jekyl Island, on the Georgian 
coast. Both colonies have become naturalized and are increasing. 
Several other species have been imported from China and Japan, 
and liberated in Oregon and British Columbia, where they are 
increasing rapidly. 
