Editing Common pheasant (section)

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Common pheasant
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Pleistocene|present}}
| image = Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) cock 2.jpg
| image_caption = Male ("cock")
| image2 = Phasianus colchicus -Rutland Water -female-8.jpg
| image2_caption = Female ("hen")<br />both in England
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Phasianus colchicus'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T45100023A85926819 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T45100023A85926819.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Phasianus
| species = colchicus
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| range_map = Phasianus colchicus map.svg
| range_map_caption = Geographical distribution of common pheasant<br />{{color box|#7137C8|border=silver}} Native {{color box|#FF0066|border=silver}} Introduced
| synonyms = ''Phasianus phasis''
}}
[[File:Phasianus colchicus 2 tom (Lukasz Lukasik).jpg|thumb|Male of hybrid stock in [[Poland]]<br/>Note thin white neck-band due to a ring-necked subspecies' contribution to hybrid [[gene pool]]]]

The '''common pheasant''' ('''''Phasianus colchicus'''''), '''ring-necked pheasant''', or '''blue-headed pheasant''', is a bird in the [[pheasant]] [[family (biology)|family]] ([[Phasianidae]]). The genus name comes from [[Latin]] ''phasianus'' 'pheasant'. The species name ''colchicus'' is [[Latin]] for 'of [[Colchis]]' (modern day [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]), a country on the [[Black Sea]] where pheasants became known to Europeans.<ref name= job90>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |pages = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n113 113], 302}}</ref> Although ''Phasianus'' was previously thought to be closely related to the genus ''Gallus'', the genus of [[junglefowl]] and domesticated [[chicken]]s, recent studies show that they are in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago.<ref name=":0b">{{Cite journal|date=2021-05-01|title=A phylogenomic supermatrix of Galliformes (Landfowl) reveals biased branch lengths|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790321000245|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|language=en|volume=158|pages=107091|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107091|issn=1055-7903|last1=Kimball|first1=Rebecca T.|last2=Hosner|first2=Peter A.|last3=Braun|first3=Edward L.|pmid=33545275|bibcode=2021MolPE.15807091K |s2cid=231963063}}</ref><ref name=Lawal>{{ cite journal | last1=Lawal | first1=RA. | display-authors=etal | year=2020 | title=The wild species genome ancestry of domestic chickens | journal=BMC Biology | volume=18 | issue=13 | pages=13 | doi=10.1186/s12915-020-0738-1 | doi-access=free | pmid=32050971| pmc=7014787 }}</ref>

It is native to Asia, where it is widespread, and also the extreme southeast of Europe in the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. It has been widely introduced elsewhere as a [[game bird]]. In parts of its range, mainly in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe, where it is naturalised, it is simply known as the "'''pheasant'''". '''Ring-necked pheasant''' is both the collective name for a number of [[subspecies]] and their intergrades that have white neck rings, and the name used for the species as a whole in North America.

It is a well-known [[gamebird]], among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world. The common pheasant is one of the world's most hunted birds;<ref name=Robertson1997/> it has been introduced for that purpose 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 [[breed]]s have been developed yet, can be considered semi-[[domesticated]]. The ring-necked pheasant is the [[List of U.S. state birds|state bird]] of [[South Dakota]], one of only two US state birds that is not a species native to the United States.

The [[green pheasant]] (''P.&nbsp;versicolor'') of Japan is sometimes considered a subspecies of the common pheasant. Though the species produce fertile [[hybrid (biology)|hybrid]]s wherever they coexist, this is simply a typical feature among [[fowl]] (Galloanseres), in which postzygotic [[isolating mechanisms]] are slight compared to most other birds. The species apparently have somewhat different [[ecological]] requirements and at least in its typical habitat, the green pheasant outcompetes the common pheasant. The introduction of the latter to Japan has therefore largely failed.