BROWN EARED-PHEASANT

Aviculturally, they represent an extraordinary success story - all captive birds are derived from two hens and one cock imported into France in 1864 and two cocks imported by the London Zoo a few years later. Not surprisingly, stock becam very inbred resulting in low fertility. In 1977, an artificial-insemination program sponsored by the World Pheasant Association showed that the infertility was almost certainly a behavioral not a physical problem. Fertility of the first 100 eggs was over 70 percent, and the experiments proved that artificial insemination was practical. Fresh wild-caught stock has since been exported from China to the U.K., Europe, the U.S.A., and Mexico. Brow Eared-Pheasants come from east central China and are total isolated from other eared-pheasants. There is a good population in the Pangchangou Reserve and a new, probably smal population has recently been recorded close to Beijing city.