Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-02-28

dent Of Portland. ore. When he was
consul general tor the Emitted States
at Ticn TSin. China. in 1850. he shipped
fifty ring -neckcd Monaghan pheasants.
twenty pairs. to his brother. John
Denny. now Il resident of Albany, Ore.
Twcnty-Six OF the birds arrived alive
and i'm good condition. Mr.. Denny then
lived on Il farm near Peterson's Butte.
eleven miles from Albany and four
miles from the town of Lebanon. There
he liberated the birds March II. 1880.
The proved prolific. but ii
was n long time before the scattered
very far. Though they have now spread
over a large part of Oregon it is an
Interesting fact that there are more of
the birds i'm the vicinity of where they
were first liberated than anywhere else
and one of the best pheasant hunting
round known to Sportsmen is where
Peierson's Butte rears itself above the
plains of Lin county.
For five years after they were Hrs,
liberated in Oregon the pheasants had
no legislative protection. Then a law
Was enacted making ii illegal to kill
the birds for ~ period of SIN Years. Al
the end of this long closed period they
were Very plentiful. and since then
there has been an annual open season.
It's length varying as succeeding legiS-
latureS have considered the question
~ i''''s .iNi' tuV ~
law the birds may legally be killed dur
ing the months of October and Noyem-
her only.
When permission to hunt the pleas
ant was FIRST granted there Was no limit
to the number that could legally be-
killed In one day. AS Il result. expert
enced hunters. who were familiar with
the birds habits. sometimes slaugh-
tered nifty or even seventy-fve birds
in Il good hunting day at the opening of
h season. But In later years the
limit for one man to kill in d day has
been successfully placed at twenty.
then fifteen and finally ten birds.
Hunting the China Pheasant.
The beginning of the open season
each year is quite an event in Linn
county. for the birds are more plentiful
there than in any other place in the
country. Hunters come from all parts
Of the northwest to hunt there. and the
night before the season opens hundreds
of wagons start out from Albany and
the other towns of the county bound
for the hunting fields and loaded with
hunters. dogs n ammunition. The
majority of the hunters spend the night
at the scene OF their proposed hunting
ready to begin firing at daybveak. On
the opening day there is a veritable
c~annnnading in the fields. Hundreds of
pheaaantS fall.
The grea, game bird is known by a
variety of names. 1t is popularity called
China pheasant" In the verbiage of
the law it is referred to as ..ring-necked
Monaghan pheasant" or '%'Torquatus
pheasant" Several people who think
the man who introduced the bird into
this country should be honored call it
the Denny pheasant" From the
standpoint OF science it is Il "gailina-
ceous bird of the sub-family phasiande
and genus p~hasianus."
The Monaghan pheasant is a beauti-
full bird. The male bird has most bril-
liant plumage. which is truly oriental in
Its splendor. and both male and female
combine grace and great beauty with
the qualities that make the pheasant
one OF h best game birds. In scien-
tific works the China pheasant is dis
tinguished from other birds by the fol.
lowing characteristics: Bill moderate
strong vaulted. slightly arched at tin
which overhangs the lower mandibie.
wings short and rounded. fourth pnd