Sharla Auch, age 12, of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, for her question:

Where did the pheasant come from?

Nowadays, handsome pheasants are quite at home through much of Canada and most of the United States. But a century ago they were unknown in the wilds of North America. Some of their ancestors were ring necked pheasants that came originally from China. Others were imported English pheasants that originated in old Asia Minor. In North America these and perhaps other strains have blended together.

The ancient Greeks named the pheasant for a river near the Black Sea, in territory which is now part of Russia. He was a popular galliforme, alias a chicken type bird, who thrived in the wild. The ancient Romans introduced him to various countries of Europe.

In England, he was cherished as a valuable game bird and carefully tended to develop new strains. After some 2000 years of this pampering, the English pheasant developed gorgeous plumage. His head and neck are shining green, his weskit is burnished red, his sides are reddish brown tipped with black. His extra long tail feathers are banded with greys and black. As in most pheasant families, the female wars modest brown speckles.

During the past hundred years, English pheasants were brought to North America and released in various parts of Canada and the United States. There they thrived and multiplied.

Meantime, the Chinese ring necked pheasant also was introduced into North America. This handsome fellow has feathers that glisten with metallic reds and purples, greens and black. He, too, has a long, banded tail and the whole outfit is set off with a neat white collar. In the 1880's, some of these native Chinese birds were taken to Oregon, made themselves at home and spread across the land.

In time, the imported English and Chinese pheasants met and mated. Their off¬spring became mixed strains and nowadays it is hard to find wild American pheasants that resemble their original ancestors.

All of our male pheasants are very handsome birds. But compared with some of their Asian cousins, they are clothed like poor relations. In the moist jungles from the Himalayas to Malasia dwell the silver pheasants, the firebacks and the monal pheasants. These beauties wear gleaming colors that rival the rainbow.

In China, the native eared pheasant has a vivid scarlet weskit and tufts of metallic green feathers that look like perky ears. Five gorgeous long tailed pheasants range from Japan, through China and Burma. The males wear patches of gleaming golds, radiant reds and vivid purples enhanced with grey, black and white.

The peacock pheasants of India display their wings like huge fans    and the long feathers show rows of eye spots in metallic greens and browns. Even more splendid are the ruffed pheasants of China. Perhaps the most gorgeous is the golden pheasant, whose crested crown is like long golden tresses. He wears a vivid scarlet weskit, gleaming blue green epaulettes and a long, wide tail of brown speckled with little gold pennies.