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steely black with conspicuous white collar about base. Face largely bare red skin, and crown 
metallic greenish ochre with white superciliary line. Short, steel-black ear tufts (Figure 
188). The tail is largely dull olive-ochre barred with 
black. The female is entirely unlike the male. 
Variegated in dull earthy ochres and rich dark brown 
markings. The ochre being clear on the breast, the 
markings heaviest on back, growing smaller and finer 
towards the head. The tail is about half as long as 
that of the male. 
Distinctions. No other wild bird is found in 
Canada with such a long tapering tail or such a 
wonderful mixture of showy colours. Many of these 
birds have crossed with the English Pheasant, an 
impurely bred Phasianus cclchicus. The two are very 
similar in coloration, but colckicus is without the white 
ring on the neck. The mantle is fiery orange and there 
is less greenish ochre on the crown. 
The Mongolian Pheasant Phasianus mongolicus 
was introduced into British Columbia from Shantung 
province, China, in 1909, and has hybridized with the 
above and still further obscured the specific characters 
of the birds of the British Columbia mainland and 
Vancouver island. It has a white neck-ring like 
tormiatus but interrupted in front, and the lower back 
and rump are orange-red mixed with dark green more 
like colckicus. On the whole the Pheasants of British 
Columbia are so hopelessly mongrelized that it takes 
an expert quite familiar with the various species to 
estimate the mixed relationships of individuals. 
Field Marks. Long sweeping tail, seen on no other 
bird except some other Pheasant that may have 
escaped from confinement. 
Figure 188 Distribution. Eastern China, Manchuria, and 
Ring-necked Pheasant; scale, $. Mongolia. Introduced in a number of places in 
Canada at various times, but only in southern British 
Columbia with marked success. On southern Vancouver island and on the mainland along 
Fraser river and the southern valleys adjoining it has become well established and is one 
of the regular game birds. 
It makes a magnificent object of sport to the upland shooter. Being 
wild, wary, and well able to take care of itself, it satisfactorily tests the 
hardihood and skill of the hunter. When brought to bag, the cock, which 
alone can be legally shot in British Columbia, is a magnificent trophy 
and large enough to furnish an appreciable addition to the table. Some 
complaints have been made as to its effect on certain crops and its belligerent 
attitude towards native Grouse. How well-founded these complaints are, 
experience alone can decide. One thing is certain, that we cannot have 
such a fine, large bird without a complementary loss of other native, com- 
peting species. Just how far we want to go in this replacement of native 
by foreign forms is a question that a community cannot solve for itself 
without considering the welfare and wishes of its neighbours, as species 
once successfully established spread indefinitely and refuse to be confined 
by county, provincial, state, or national boundaries. 
FAMILY TETRAONIDAE. GROUSE 
The Grouse have the nostrils hidden in feathers that occupy an 
intrusive space in the base of the bill at the sides (Figure 29, page 28). The 
tarsus is either completely or partly feathered; in the Ptarmigan the 
feathering includes the toes. The toes when unfeathered are bordered on 
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