PHEASANT KAISING IN THE UNITED STATES. 
17 
past six years more than 2,000 pheasants have been distributed throughout the State, 
mainly in trios of one cock and two hens. Thus far the experiment has proved 
successful. 
Vermont.— In Vermont more than 1,200 English ringneck pheasants were turned 
out in 1892 from Shelburne Farms, a private preserve, and later the Vermont Fish 
and Game League liberated a number of ringnecks. In 1902 the game commission 
reported that the latter attempt had failed, but that pheasants were yet to be found 
along the shores of Lake Champlain; these were, however, being exterminated by 
guqners. 
Pennsylvania. —In Pennsylvania apparently no attempt has been made to stock 
the State with pheasants; but as early as 1871 a pheasantry with 30 birds was started 
at Blooming Grove Park, a large private preserve in Pike County. Since then the 
propagation of pheasants has been continued, the surplus each year (3,000 in 1904) 
being liberated in the preserve for shooting by the members of the association owning 
it. Other preserves have since been established in the State on which pheasantries 
are conducted and small stocks of birds maintained. 
Other States. —In Utah ringnecks liberated in Salt Lake County from a private 
preserve about 1895 were reported in 1906 as doing exceptionally well. In New 
Hampshire the game commissioner liberated a few English ringnecks and ringnecks 
in 1896, but apparently without lasting result. The Minnesota game commission 
started a pheasant propagation plant in 1905, and liberated a few birds, but on account 
of great mortality among the chicks little has been accomplished. The commission 
is still experimenting, but reports that it can buy pheasants more cheaply than it can 
raise them. Delaware, in 1903 and 1904, liberated 88 pairs of pheasants, which have 
practically disappeared. Kansas has liberated, since 1906, more than 3,000 ringnecks 
and English ringnecks, which are at present reported to be multiplying. In the past 
few years a propagating company has turned out a large number of pheasants in Colo¬ 
rado with results yet to be determined. 
Private preserves. —In addition to these more noteworthy attempts to introduce 
pheasants into different States, many private preserves have been stocked with pheas¬ 
ants in the last thirty years, while to supply the demand for birds, numbers of indi¬ 
viduals in this country have undertaken to propagate pheasants in confinement. 
It is difficult to transplant pheasants to a new region without considerable care in 
feeding them and protecting them from enemies. Occasionally, as in the case of the 
ringneck pheasant in western Oregon, an exotic species finds the new conditions 
suited to its requirements and thrives, but such instances are comparatively rare. In 
rearing birds in confinement, however, success is less dependent on the character of 
the region than on individual experience and capacity. Most of the commercial 
pheasantries established in the United States and Canada have been comparatively 
short-lived, but some have succeeded and have proved an important source of revenue 
to their proprietors. The private preserves have been, as a rule, fairly successful. 
On some, English gamekeepers and English methods are employed; others are Amer¬ 
ican in character, though borrowing largely from the long experience of England and 
other countries of Europe. 
PHEASANTS IN FIELD AND COVERT. 
The failure of many efforts to add pheasants to our fauna is largely 
due to insufficient knowledge of their habits and the character of 
their normal environment. It is useless to undertake to acclimatize 
28456—Bull. 390—10-3 
