Daily camera., 1898-05-26
MONGOLIAN PHEASANTS.
Are Fast Becoming Popular as
American Game Birds.

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1t II Thought They May DisDlace the
Quaii ~ . Favorfte with
gportsmen-Their First
X Introduction.
Many sportsmen think that the pheas-
ant of the Mongolian kind will in few
! ears succeed the quail as the popular
American game bird. The pheasant
has not only its toothsome qualities to
recommend it, but its beauty, in waving
plumage of ravishing hues, and there
fore will prove prize that every sports
man will endeavor to secure when the
season is once open for it's slaughter.
1t has attracted the attention of our
sporting men for many years, in con-
sequence of it's successful introduction
on the Pacific slope, and now many
eastern states are introducing the Mon
golian bird into their domains. In Ohio
alone over 200 birds were liberated this
year.
Mongolian pheasants are we'll worth
all the expense and care that may be ex-
pended upon them. They evidently rank
next to the birds of paradise in beauty,
and in fact are too handsome to be made
targets of.
The male bird has the cheeks naked
and of the brightest scarlet, minutely
specked with black; the crown OF the
head is bronze green; on each side Of the
occiput tuft of dark golden-green
feathers, capable of being erected at
pleasure, and very conspicuous in the
pairing season; upper part of the neck
dark green, CLOSED with purple and
violet blue; lower part of the neck,
breast and fanks, deep reddish orange,
showing in some positions beautiful re-
Elections of light purple; each feather
bordered and terminating with pansy
purple; center of the belly and thighs
blackish brown; center of the back and
scapular feathers black or brownish
black, surrounded with yellowish
white band and bordered with deep
reddish orange; lower part of the back
and upper tail covert green, inter
mingled with brownish orange and pur-
pie red; tail feathers brown, crossed by
bands of black and fringed with red
dish brown; bill pale yellow; legs and
toes grayish black The female has
cheeks covered with small, closely set
feathers, and the whole of the plumage
yellowish brown, mingled with differ
ent shades of gray, brown and black.
The Mongolian pheasant was first in
troduced into this country by Judge O..
N. Denny, who was our consul general
at Shanghai. He, while there, be-
came deeply interested in the large va
riety of exquisitely plumaged food birds
of that section of the globe, and deter
mined to introduce the hardest, the
most toothsome, and the most prolific
bird into the United States. His first
experiment in 1881 was a failure, but in
1882 he selected from nine varieties the
Chinese ring-necked pheasant, the Mon
golian, which is now called in Oregon,
in compliment to the introducer, the
Denny pheasant.
There were but % of these, and they
all arrived safely at Portland, Ore.
They were eimmediately liberated among
the grain fields and semi-brush-covered
and wooded prairie at Judge Denny's
brothers ranch in Linn county, there to
adapt themselves or go out Of exist
ence.
Nothing was seen of the new birds
for two years, and then here and there
in different portions of the country
shy little coveys made their appearance,
and before five years elapsed the cucket-
ing of the brilliant-plumaged male birds
was far more commonly heard than
that Of their own, native grouse. 1t
should be said that through Judge
Denny's instrumentality the legisla-
ture passed law protecting the new
pheasant for period of five years, and
at the expiration of that time, again
at his suggestion, the time was extend
ed for another interval of equal length.
At the end of ten years Oregon was lit
orally alive with the Mongolian pheas-'
ant, which delights the heart Of every
sportsman with its swift and rapid
flight and tempts the most epicurean
palate by it's delicious white flesh
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