The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1907-09-05


States" is the title which is more
Ind more being accredited to the
China pheasant. The fame of this
bird of Oriental nativity which
thrives in the Occident as well as in
Eastern chimes has been spreading
rapidly, and as its qualities become
known efforts to secure stocks of the
pheasants in different parts of the
country grow greater and greater.
Until recently the Monaghan pleas
ants only home on American soil
has been the far Western State of
Oregon; but now many of the States
of the Middle West are preparing to
stock their fields with the beautiful.
gamy birds.
Kansas is the only State except
Oregon which has yet undertaken the
propagation Of the birds on a large
scale. Two hundred "Chinas" were
recently shipped from Oregon to be
turned out there. Illinois and Min
nesota are also making an effort to
secure supply Of the pheasants for
their State hatcheries, and private
parties in at least ten other Eastern
commemorative have secured small
numbers of them.
The China pheasant is beautiful,
toothsome and gamy. Other birds
are perhaps as toothsome, though
residents Of Oregon, who have been
eating the birds for years, doubt it.
A few of it's Oriental kind may be as
beautiful. But no bird in the coun-
try has the instinct of self-preserva-
ton in so high degree or is so
skilful in eluding hunters. 1t will
double on it's trail, and has many
methods peculiar to itself of prevent
ing destruction. 1t seldom alights
during the hunting season without
running considerable distance, and,
being remarkably fleet of foot, it
generally escapes hunter if it once
succeeds in alighting. In short, in
this fowl are combined all the ele-
ments Of the true game bird and it
requires an experienced hunter with
a well-trained dog to bag enough to
make a days hunting profitable.
The Monaghan pheasant was first
introduced into this country by the
late Hon. o. N. Denny, formerly a
resident of Portland, Ore. When he
was Consul-General for the United
States at Tientsin, China, in 1880,
he shipped fifty ring-necked Mongo-
liam pheasants, twenty-five pairs, to
his brother, John Denny, now resi-
dent of Albany, Ore. Twenty-six Of
the birds arrived alive and in good
condition. Mr.. Denny then lived on
a farm near Peterson's Butte, eleven
miles from Albany and four miles
from the town of Lebanon. There
he liberated the birds on March IL,
1880.
The newcomers proved prolific, but
it was a long time before they scat
tered very far. Though they have
now spread over large part of Ore
gon, it is an interesting fact that
there are more of the birds in the
vicinity of where they were first lib
Grated than anywhere else, and one
of the best pheasant hunting grounds
known to sportsmen is where Peter
sons Butte rears itself above the
plains of Linn County.
For five years after they were first
liberated in Oregon the pheasants
had no legislative protection. Then
law was enacted making it illegal
to kill the birds for a period of six
years. At the end of this long closed
period they were very plentiful, and
since then there has been an annual
open season, its length varying as
succeeding Legislatures have consid-
cred the question from time to time.
Under the present law the birds may
legally be killed during the months
of October and November only,
When permission to hunt the
pheasant was first granted there was
no limit to the number that could
legally be killed in one day. AS a
result, experienced hunters, who
were familiar with the birds habits,
sometimes slaughtered fifty or even
seventy-fve birds in a good hunting
day at the opening of the season.
But in later years the limit for one