JAPANESE GREEN PHEASANTS 
Japanese green pheasants are common residents throughout Japan 
except on the northern island of Hokkaido. Their main range extends 
from cold areas with high snowfall in northern Honshu, the large 
central island, to the southernmost island of Kyushu with its semi- 
tropical low mountainous woodlands and scattered agriculture. 
Green pheasants are of the pheasant family in the true pheasant 
group, all of which are found in the genus Phasianus. In addition to 
three subspecies of green pheasants classified by Delacour (8), the genus 
includes four black-necked, six white-winged, three Kirghiz, one olive- 
rumped and seventeen grey-rumped pheasants. Many of these are ringnecks. 
Except for the green pheasant and the Formosan pheasant, true pheasants 
inhabit mainland areas with but minor exceptions. Most of the major 
populations of the true pheasant group in the world today are associated 
with some form of agriculture, particularly grain producing areas. 
In looking for a pheasant that might inhabit range not occupied by 
ring-necked pheasants in the United States, the various subspecies of 
green pheasants have been evaluated since 1958 by the Foreign Game Intro- 
duction Program. One or more of these subspecies might be acceptable as 
a new game bird in portions of eastern, southeastern or northwestern 
United States where either wooded flatlands or hilly country are inter- 
mixed with agricultural fields. 
Climatic counterparts of the green pheasants range should be found 
in the higher rainfall areas of the United States. Certain subspecies 
are able to endure some snow while others seldom, if ever, experience it. 
In the native range of the northern green pheasant, winters are cold and 
summers are mild while where the southern green pheasant is found, winters 
are mild and summers warm. Relatively high humidity throughout the year 
is common for most of Japan, The green pheasant's ability to exist and 
thrive under Japanese climatic conditions makes it worthy of detailed 
consideration for trial introduction into certain areas of the United 
States even though some differences are found in monthly, seasonal and 
annual totals of precipitation in Japan when compared to areas in the 
United States which appear to be otherwise similar. 
In general, the northern green pheasant (P. v. robustipes), under 
conditions of considerable rainfall, snowfall and fairly cold winters, 
would appear climatically adapted to the coastal mid-Atlantic States 
south to North Carolina and west into Tennessee and Kentucky. There also 
might be some possibilities for trial introductions of this subspecies 
into the western parts of our Pacific States. The southern green pheas- 
sant (P. v. versicolor) of southwestern Honshu and Kyushu might find 
its most comparable climatic conditions in southeastern United States 
as far south as Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. 
