PHEASANTS: RING-NECKED PHEASANT 
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PHEASANTS: Family Phasianidae 
RING-NECKED PHEASANT: Phasianus cdlchicus torquatus Gmelin 
Description. — Male: Length about 30 inches, wing 9.5-10.5, tail 17.5-20. 
Female: Length about 20-24 inches, wing 8.5, tail 11-12. A tuft of elongated 
feathers over ear, and leg with a small spur (in male); wings strong, short and 
rounded; tail much graduated. Adult male: 
Head and neck, except for scarlet naked 
cheek patch and grayish green crown, 
mainly iridescent black or green down to 
white collar; breast rich bronze with conspic¬ 
uous metallic sheen, feather edgings giving 
scaled effect; middle of belly steely blue 
block, sides arid flanksyellow; forepart of back 
yellowish with black markings, middle of 
back and shoulders chestnut red, spotted with 
white and black, lower back and rump 
mainly grayish green; long pointed tail yel¬ 
lowish, banded with black; iris yellow, bill 
light gray, feet brownish gray. Adult 
female: Smaller, mainly brownish, slightly 
scaled on back but pale brown on breast: 
tail brown, barred with black and pinkish 
brown; iris yellowish, bill light gray, legs 
and feet brownish. Young injuvenal plum¬ 
age: Upperparts dark brown or blackish, 
top of head and back of neck with yellow¬ 
ish spots, rest of upperparts with yellowish 
shaft streaks and margins; throat white or 
buffy, breast brownish, tinged with rusty; 
belly whitish or buffy, sides and flanks 
marked concentrically with brownish, 
blackish, and dull white. 
Range. —Native in lower Amur, Man¬ 
churia, Korea, and eastern Mongolia, 
south through eastern China to Canton. 
Introduced into various countries in Eu¬ 
rope-and America and in twenty-five or 
more of our States. 
State Records. —Ring-necked Pheasants have been introduced in various parts 
of New Mexico during the last 20 or 30 years,, but apparently with little success. 
Captain M. S. Murray, U. S. A. retired, at one time Deputy Game and Fish Warden 
for the propagation of the Pheasants, raised “quite a few” at Roswell, but before 
being able to carry out his plan of propagation in southern New Mexico had to leave 
the State, and sent those that he had raised to the Pajarita Mountains on the Mes- 
calero Apache Indian Reservation (MS). Others were introduced on the W. S. 
Ranch at Cimarron and Mr. William French, under date of September 9, 1918, 
wrote—“They did fairly well for a number of years, but did not increase very rapidly 
as they had so many enemies to contend with—wild cats, coyotes, skunks, and worst 
of all, magpies. There are some still around but they seem to have disappeared 
more rapidly within the last two years. Prior to that time there were probably a 
couple of hundred within a radius of six or seven miles, but as the Magpies increased 
Its unusual form and coat of many 
glistening colors make it a striking 
oriental figure strangely out of place 
in a New World landscape 
