Calls 
The calls of the South Korean ringneck are similar in character 
and periodicity to those of the ringneck in the United States. During 
the spring and summer breeding seasons male birds often crow every few 
minutes. In the Pusan area cocks were heard calling during the breeding 
period between March 28 and September 6, 1948, according to C. M. Fennell 
(9). Females usually are non-vocal except when with broods, Fall finds 
male birds generally silent except for the morning or evening cackle-like 
outbursts so familiar to the ringneck hunter in the United States. Males 
also cackle or give alarm calls when thunder, loud explosions or similar 
noises are heard. The rumble of earthquakes will also cause male pheas-~ 
ants to call. 
Interbreeding 
The South Korean pheasant, notes Austin and Kuroda (4), has inter- 
bred freely with the green pheasant in Japan. They believe the Japanese 
green to have been dominant, resulting in F, hybrids which they thought 
were seldom fertile. They concluded that this was the reason for the 
gradual disappearance of pheasants from liberation areas on Honshu, Shikoku 
and Kyushu, Introductions of the South Korean subspecies have been more 
successful in southern Hokkaido in the absence of any native green pheas- 
ant. It has been introduced there since 1930. 
On the other hand, crosses between the South Korean pheasant and 
othar subspecies of the true pheasant group have resulted in the produc- 
tion of fertile offspring in captivity. Game personnel in Tennessee and 
Ohio have indicated recently that preliminary studies show the F, hybrids 
between the Japanese green pheasant and the southern Korean ringneck to 
be fertile, ‘4 
Predation 
Like the ringneck of the United States, the South Korean pheasant 
suffers some losses from avian and mammal predators. High pheasant 
numbers in Korea indicate that losses from predators are not sufficient 
to prevent the buildup of the pheasant population, possibly because of 
an abundance of rats, mice and rabbits in good pheasant habitat. 
Won and Han (20) include the Korean golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), 
hawk eagle (Spizaetus nipalensis), two subspecies of broadwinged hawks 
(Buteo spp.) and the marsh harrier (Circus sp.) among the avian predators 
commonly found in South Korea in ringneck coverts. The Accipiter hawks 
are represented by two goshawks and two smaller members of this genus. 
At least thirteen types of owls are present including Bubo bubo 
which the South Koreans call Clark's eagle-owl. The latter is similar 
to the great-horned owl of the United States. Crows (Corvus spp.), 
rooks (Corvus frugilegus), jackdaws (Corvus monedula) and black-billed 
magpies (Pica pica) are common to abundant in South Korea and probably 
cause some predation on eggs and chicks where the opportunity arises, 



(a) Personal communications. 
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