Common pheasant
A widespread gamebird, introduced globally for hunting.
The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), also known as the ring-necked pheasant or blue-headed pheasant, belongs to the pheasant family. Its genus name derives from the Latin for "pheasant," while the species name references Colchis, a region on the Black Sea in modern-day Georgia where Europeans first encountered the bird. Although once thought closely related to junglefowl and domestic chickens, recent studies place them in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago. Native to Asia and the extreme southeast of Europe, its original range extended from the eastern Black Sea and Caspian Sea to Manchuria, Siberia, Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan. It has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird, making it one of the world’s most hunted and widespread gamebirds. The ring-necked subspecies group, commonly bred on game farms, can be considered semi-domesticated. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, one of only two US state birds not native to the country. The green pheasant of Japan is sometimes considered a subspecies; though they produce fertile hybrids, the green pheasant outcompetes the common pheasant in its typical habitat, causing introductions to Japan to largely fail. Southern Caucasian pheasants were common in Greece during the classical period, but archaeological remains in the Balkans date to the 6th millennium BC, suggesting natural arrival rather than introduction by Greek colonists. The last Balkan population survives in a Greek forest with an estimated 100–200 adults. In Bulgaria, they were lost in the 1970s due to hybridization with introduced eastern subspecies. Introduced populations exist across Europe, North America, Japan, New Zealand, Hawaii, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and Tasmania. Southern Hemisphere introductions mostly failed except where local Galliformes are rare. In Britain, the bird was naturalized around AD 1059, possibly introduced earlier by Romano-Britons. It became extinct in most of Britain in the early 17th century, with re-introductions of white ring-necked birds in the 18th century. It was rediscovered as a game bird in the 1830s and is now reared extensively by gamekeepers.
- Scientific name
- Phasianus colchicus
- Family
- Phasianidae
- Native range
- Asia and extreme southeast of Europe
- Male weight
- 0.5–3 kg (avg. 1.2 kg)
- Female weight
- 0.5–3 kg (avg. 0.9 kg)
- Wingspan
- 56–86 cm
- State bird of
- South Dakota, USA
Lore & Background
The common pheasant was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its modern scientific name. The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis' (modern day Georgia), a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. The type locality was later fixed to the Rioni River in western Georgia, known as Phasis to the Ancient Greeks. There are many colour forms of the male common pheasant, ranging from nearly white to almost black. The adult male of the nominate subspecies is 60–89 cm in length with a long brown streaked black tail, and body plumage barred bright gold or fiery copper-red with iridescent sheen of green and purple. The female is much less showy, with duller mottled brown plumage. The green pheasant of Japan is sometimes considered a subspecies, and hybrids are common.
Reader's Guide
The common pheasant is a well-known gamebird, among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world. It has been introduced for hunting to many regions and is also common on game farms, where it is commercially bred. The ring-necked subspecies group in particular are commonly bred and were introduced to many parts of the world; the game farm stock, though no distinct breeds have been developed yet, can be considered semi-domesticated. The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, one of only two US state birds that is not a species native to the United States. In parts of its range, mainly in places where none of its relatives occurs such as in Europe, where it is naturalised, it is simply known as the pheasant. The species has about 30 subspecies in five to eight groups, and introduced populations have mixed the alleles of various races. An investigation into the genetic relationships of subspecies suggested that the common pheasant originated from the forests of southeastern China, with initial divergence thought to have occurred around 3.4 Mya.
Did You Know?
- The ring-necked pheasant is the state bird of South Dakota, one of only two US state birds not native to the United States.
- The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis', modern day Georgia, where pheasants became known to Europeans.
- The green pheasant of Japan is sometimes considered a subspecies of the common pheasant, and they produce fertile hybrids.
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