Arlene Newsome, age 13, of Bennington, Vt., for her question:
HOW MANY EGGS DOES A PHEASANT LAY?
Pheasants nest on the ground. A female will lay from six to 16 olive buff colored eggs in a hollow among the leaves. Most of the eggs will hatch, producing a very large family of babies.
Pheasants belong to the same family as the domestic fowl and the peacock. The word "pheasant" comes from "Phasis," the name of a river in the ancient country of Colchis.
The Phasis is now the Rion River in southern Russia near the Black Sea. Pheasants have always lived in large numbers in this region. From here, according to legend, these birds were first exported to Europe.
Two of the best known pheasants are the so called English pheasant, which the Romans supposedly brought to England, and the Chinese ring necked pheasant. The English pheasants first came from Asia Minor and the Chinese ring necked birds from China.
Large numbers of English pheasants are bred in England preserves as game birds. The males are brilliantly colored. Their heads and necks are a bright green. The under parts of their bodies are bronze red. The sides of their bodies are reddish brown tipped with blue black. In different lights, their feathers reflect varying shades of black, green, purple and gold.
Female birds are a yellow brown color with markings of a darker brown.
The males are about three feet long with the tail making up at least half of this length. The female is about a foot shorter than the male.
The present game pheasant of the continental United States is a hybrid bird, a mixture of many wild populations. The white neck ringed has survived longer than the dark neck ringed form, which has practically disappeared.
The birds were first introduced into the U.S. from England about 1790. The first ones were taken to New Hampshire and then some went to New Jersey. The birds quickly established themselves along the entire Atlantic seaboard.
Pheasants were introduced into California in 1857 and in Oregon in the 1880s. They are now found all across the northern U.S. and southern Canada.
Pheasants are now listed as game birds in all but three states. Part of the reason for the spread of the birds is the fact that each nest contains so many eggs.
Pheasants eat berries, seeds and insects. In some locations, they have become so numerous as to be a menace to grain fields. But their insect eating habits are helpful to farmers.
In the Dakotas and Manitoba, pheasants have helped to create a hunter's paradise. In many other states the pheasant is also an important game bird.
Among other well known species are the golden pheasant, named for its golden yellow crest and bright yellow breast: the Chinese silver pheasant, a beautiful bird whose white upper parts are delicately marked with black lines; and the eared pheasant of central and eastern Asia. This name refers to the long white tufts of feathers on the sides of the head that look like ears.