Common Pheasant

     The Common Pheasant is a bird in the Pheasant family which is native to Asia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, mainly in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe, it’s simply known as the “Pheasant”. The ‘Ring-Necked Pheasant’ and the ‘Pheasant’ are the common names for the species as a whole in North America. And these names are the collective names for a number of subspecies and their intergrades which have white neck rings.

     Common pheasants are one of the world’s most hunted birds. They’ve been introduced for that purpose to many regions as well, and are very common on game farms where they’re commercially bred. There are about 30 subspecies for the Common pheasant in five or sometimes six main groups. The ‘Caucasus Pheasant’, the ‘Mongolian Ring-Necked Pheasant’, and the ‘Chinese Ring-Necked Pheasant’ are the most notable subspecies. There’re also many color forms notable especially in the male Common pheasant, ranging from nearly white to almost black in some cases. These are due to captive breeding and hybridization between subspecies and with the Green Pheasant, reinforced by continual releases of stock from varying sources to the wild.

     In general, the male Common pheasant has lustrous copper to brown plumage with dark-lacing on breast, back and lower body. He has also a lustrous black head, with red highlights on face and a white ring around the neck. And the tail is greyish brown in color, barred with darker brown. The female Common pheasant is a light brown bird with dark barring and stripes on some feathers. And with some white highlights around her face.

     In the breeding season, male Common pheasants mate with more than one female. And females undertake the duties of nesting and rearing chicks alone. During late April, the female Common pheasant lays between 7 and 15 eggs in a grass-lined hollow on the ground. The chicks hatch after 23 and 27 days later, and become independent after a short period of time.