166 
GALLIFORMES 
marked with black feather edges, abdomen black and rich ochre, on flanks spotted with 
purple-black. Head and neck, except crown, brilliant, 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 236). 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 is 
clear on the breast, the markings heaviest on back, 
growing smaller and liner 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 (Le 
Faisan d’Europe), an impurely bred Phasianus col - 
chicus crossed with torquatus. The two are very 
similar in coloration, but colchicus is without the w T hite 
ring on the neck. The mantle is fiery orange and 
there is less greenish ochre on the crown. 
The Mongolian Pheasant (le Faisan de Mongolie) 
Phasianus colchicus 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 torquatus but 
interruped in front, and the lower back and rump are 
orange-red mixed with dark green more like colchicus. 
On the whole the pheasants of British Columbia are 
so hopelessly mongrel that it takes an expert quite 
familiar with the various species to estimate the 
mixed relationships of individuals. 
Field M arks. Long, sweeping tail, seen on no other 
bird except some other pheasant that may have 
escaped from confinement. 
Distribution. Eastern China, Manchuria, and 
Mongolia. Introduced in a number of places in 
Canada at various times, but only in southern British 
Columbia and southern Ontario 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 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, competing 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 boun- 
daries. 
FAMILY MELEAGRIDIDAE. TURKEYS 
The largest of our scratching birds and so familiar from its domesti- 
cated form that it requires no detailed description. There is only one 
species in Canada. 
Figure 236 
Ring-necked Pheasant; scale, §. 
