Common Pheasant

Common Pheasant is a game bird (Phasianus colchicus) native to Asia, introduced widely across Europe and North America centuries ago and now reared in large numbers on game farms for hunting and, to a lesser extent, meat. Game farms hatch and raise pheasant chicks to release into managed shooting estates, particularly in the United Kingdom, where reared pheasants supply the driven shooting industry that forms a significant part of rural land management and rural economies. Farmed rearing supplements what would otherwise be a much smaller wild breeding population in many of these regions, since released birds face heavy predation and hunting pressure. The pheasant's introduced, farm-supplemented populations across its non-native range make it one of the most widely reared game birds in the world.