Besides the Chinese Pheasant, we have in this state a number of others. The Golden Pheasant you see here is a very beautiful bird, but not a very hardy one, and is one that is not very easily raised. Then we have the Reeves Pheasant, which has been planted in various parts of the state; the Silver Pheasant, and the Amherst Pheasant. The Silver Pheasant has done fairly well in several places. Near Eugene we have several of these birds living in the open. As the usual thing, however, these are not to be used as game birds. They are more for fancy purposes. One of the natural refuges in our state is in the southern part, along the shores of the Klamath lakes. Here the birds breed by thousands. In former years the “pot” hunters would go there and bag great numbers, then sell them in the market for a mere pittance. But now this part of the lakes has been declared a national game reserve, through the activity of our state officials together with the department at Washington. And here every year thousands of ducks, thousands of geese, and thousands of pelicans, as well as many other kinds of water birds breed unmolested.
While these are naturally very wild, when they are brought up as here, in constant contact with people, they become fairly tame. They soon eat our of a person’s hand, just as young chicks would do. However, they become wild very quickly. It takes only a few scares to make them as wild as they would be if reared in the open, for rearing them where they have such perfect protection does not alter the instinct with which the young bird is born. The always have a tendency toward this wild life.