Observations on the autumn density of Chinese ring-necked pheasants in Shanxi Province.

Abstract

The Ring-necked pheasant phasianus colchicus torquatus is the most widespread gamebird in the world. Native to much of China, South East Asia and the Northern Himalayas it has also been introduced throughout the temperate regions of Europe and North America. It has been widely studied in its introduced range. Carroll et al. (1988) list some 600 published papers on this species, of which only four (Kozlowa 1947, Kuroda 1981, Yan 1989, Zhao 1989) are from its native range. Very little is known of the ecology, behaviour or population dynamics of this species in its natural environment (Johnsgard 1986). The papers that do exist, suggest differences in population dynamics and breeding behaviour from those discovered in the introduced range.

This note describes a series.of limited observations of Ring-necked pheasants in the Pangquangou Nature Reserve, Shanxi Province, China during a two day visit in October 1989.