Editing Common pheasant (section)

===As an introduced species===
[[File:Pheasant in Litovelske Pomoravi.jpg|thumb|left|Although a non-indigenous species, the common pheasant is farmed even in [[conservation area]]s, as seen here in [[Litovelské Pomoraví Protected Landscape Area]] in the Czech Republic.]]
[[File:Ring-necked pheasants on shore of the Severn Estuary at Newport Wetlands RSPB Reserve.JPG|thumb|Introduced male and female foraging at the [[Newport Wetlands|Newport Wetlands RSPB Nature Reserve]] in the United Kingdom]]
[[File:Pheasant 3858.jpg|thumb|right|A startled male makes a dash for cover]]

Common pheasants can now be found across the globe due to their readiness to breed in captivity and the fact that they can naturalise in many climates, but are known to be introduced in Europe, North America, [[Japan]] and [[New Zealand]].  Pheasants were hunted in their natural range by [[Stone Age]] humans just like the [[grouse]], [[partridge]]s, [[junglefowl]]s and perhaps [[peafowl]]s that inhabited Europe at that time.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} The common pheasant was originally introduced to Europe during the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period. Recipes for preparing pheasant meat were discussed by [[Marcus Gavius Apicius]] in the first century AD; pheasant husbandry is also discussed by [[Columella]] in the same century and, based on the former's writings, by [[Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius]] in ''De Re Rustica'' in 350 AD.<ref name="Lever1979"/>

Introductions in the [[Southern Hemisphere]] have mostly failed, except where local [[Galliformes]] or their [[ecological]] equivalents are rare or absent.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

The bird was naturalized in [[Great Britain]] around AD 1059, but may have been introduced by the [[Romano-British]] centuries earlier.<ref name=Cross2006/> It was the Caucasian subspecies mistakenly known as the 'Old English pheasant' rather than the Chinese ring-necked pheasants (''torquatus'') that were introduced to Britain.<ref>Book of British Birds, p.69</ref> But it became [[Local extinction|extirpated]] from most of the isles in the early 17th century. There were further re-introductions of the 'white neck-ringed' variety in the 18th century. It was rediscovered as a game bird in the 1830s after being ignored for many years in an amalgam of forms. Since then it has been reared extensively by [[gamekeeper]]s and was shot in season from 1 October to 31 January. Pheasants are well adapted to the British climate and breed naturally in the wild without human supervision in copses, heaths and commons.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} Imported stock has originated from a number of other subspecies in addition to ''colchicus'' and ''torquatus'', including the Prince of Wales pheasant (''P. c. principalis''), the Mongolian pheasant (''P. c. mongolicus''), the Satchu pheasant (''P. c. satscheuensis''), and Pallas's pheasant (''P. c. pallasi''), alongside the related [[green pheasant]]. Extensive interbreeding has occurred between these stocks, so that most British pheasants are of mixed heritage and display an at least partial neck ring and the "Old English" type is not encountered in its original form. Common British phenotypes include a cream-colored variant termed the Bohemian pheasant and a melanistic form derived from green pheasant ancestry.<ref name="Lever1979">{{cite book |last=Lever |first=Christopher |date=1979 |title=The Naturalized Animals of the British Isles |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalizedanima0000leve |location=London |publisher=Paladin Books |page=331-342 |isbn=9780586082850 |access-date=9 May 2025}}</ref><ref name="Lever2009"/>

The first mentions of pheasants in Scotland occur in the late sixteenth century, although they did not penetrate as far as the [[Scottish Highlands]] until the nineteenth, when a cock was recorded in the [[Grampian Mountain]]s in 1826.<ref name="Lever2009">{{cite book |last=Lever |first=Christopher |date=2009 |title=The Naturalized Animals of Britain and Ireland |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalizedanima0000leve_i7q2/page/164 |location=London |publisher=New Holland Publishers |page=164-168 |isbn=9781847734549 |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref> By 1950 pheasants bred throughout the British Isles, although they were scarce in [[Ireland]]. Because around 30,000,000 pheasants are released each year on shooting estates, mainly in the [[The Midlands|Midlands]] and South of England, it is widespread in distribution, although most released birds survive less than a year in the wild. The Bohemian was most likely seen in [[North Norfolk]].<ref>Scott, p.86</ref> The [[Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust]] is researching the breeding success of reared pheasants and trying to find ways to improve this breeding success to reduce the demand to release as many reared pheasants and increase the wild population.  As the original Caucasian stock all but disappeared during the Early Modern era, most 'dark-winged ringless' birds in the UK are actually descended from 'Chinese ring-necked' and 'green pheasant' hybrids,<ref name=h2g2/> which were commonly used for rewilding.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}

[[File:Common Pheasant Phasianus Colchicus.jpg|thumb|A close up of the head and body of a common pheasant]]