Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-03-29

- ~ -~I VI lAC AoA "CAo OCot
friends. the pheasant, has
been long neglected by Amer
~ lean agriculturalists, but the
movement for q widespread
Introduction of the valuable bird into
the United States is rapidly gaining
ground as the pre-eminent merits Of
the pheasant are recognized. It Is
matchless as a destroyer Of insect
pests and as game bird 1t rivals the
native American species. AS it can
easily be reared In captivity and can
be kept semi-domesticized In the
vicinity In which it is reared, 1t will
prove in many ways a valuable aid to
the farmer.
The pheasant is naturally an insec-
tivorous bird. The variety Of the in
sect food of the pheasant is larger
than any other bird, SO far as known.
Investigation shows that over 100
varieties Of insects, including earth
worms, are eaten by this bird, and
doubtless many more will be added to
the list on further investigation. The
pheasant is especially fond of small
rodents, such as field mice, young
gophers and small snakes. In Eng
land a number of pheasants have
been found choked to death in an at
tempt to swallow worms larger OF
longer than they could manage, and
pheasants also have been found dead,
choked to death on small rodents.
The keepers OF large pheasantries
have seen pheasants catch mice that
were stealing the grain from the
birds. This is verified by Fred Bar
antries at City Park, Denver, Col. Mr..
Barnett says that pheasant hen will
catch and destroy a mouse as quickly
as a cock pheasant or cat, as he
has frequently watched them in the
act. They usually pick the head off
first, then tear and eat the body or
swallow the small ones whole.
Among the insects destroyed by the
pheasant are included 1ll-smelling
bugs, that most birds will not touch,
making these birds more valuable to
the farmer than any other. Among
the pests ravenously caught by the
pheasant are the potato beetle, the
squash bug, the cucumber beetle, the
bean leaf beetle, tomato worms, cut
worms and the moth which deposit
the eggs for the wire worms. The
pheasant also digs for and eats the
'wireworms. Most birds avoid the po
tato beetle and other ill-smelling bugs
If fho{r 0hn1v}11,o
The southern people are importing
the pheasant to fight the cotton boil
weevil and its larvae, and 1t is sale
that one pheasant will eat as many
of the destructive pests as number
of quail. Many of the insects tha
are Injurious to the corn crop are de
tstroyed by the pheasant, and the birt
corn until late In the season, after in
sect food IS scarce. The professor!
of our agricultural colleges state tina
the chinch bug, which destroys 500,
100000 worth Of wheat annually, 1,
hunted and eaten by the pheasant
both In summer and In winter.
The difference between the pleas
ant and the ordinary fowl in eating in
sects Is largely that the pheasant /!
constantly hurting for the eggs ant
larvae Of Insects, in the grain field.
and meadows, where the insect egg.
are usually lad on the underside O.
the leaves Of he plants.
Pheasants Ike grasshopper eggs
especially those Of the locust, which
deposits It's eggs In the earth in dr.,
places, and pheasants In captivit,
have been known to dig up ligh
ground in tho search for insect egg.
and larvae.
books, Is, scientifically, Phasianu.
colchicus, and 1t Is him that we cal
the "blacknesk."
That is GOOD and distinctive title
because the bird that has made hin
a rara avis n our coverts, has oustet
him and absorbed him by crossing, il
the bird with the white ring arount
his neck-the ring-necked pheasant
or Phasianue torquatus.
The Japanese pheasant, conspicu
GUS for the dark green breast Of tn,
male, is nos, according to the speci
mems seen by the present writer, a.
large q birh as the English natives
but 1t is a curious thing with regart
ito all these pheasants that there is
tendency, which seems to be con
stant, for a cross between any tw.
species or varieties to be vary mucl
larger than either Of the original par
ent stocks. This was the case witt
tho crosses Of the colchicus and to1
;Quatus in the first place: and it wa
found again. as soon as the crossing
took place between the versicolor ant
1eher Of the older-establshed kinds
..a