Pheasant

Pheasant, most often the common pheasant, Phasianus colchicus, also called the ring-necked or blue-headed pheasant, is a mid-sized bird native to Asia and the extreme southeast of Europe that has been introduced worldwide, including to North America, Europe, Japan and New Zealand, chiefly as a game bird. It is one of the world's most hunted birds and, among gamebirds of more than regional importance, is described as perhaps the most widespread and long-established one anywhere; the ring-necked pheasant is also the state bird of South Dakota. The species overall ranges from about 0.5 to 3 kilograms, with males averaging around 1.2 kilograms and displaying iridescent plumage and females averaging around 0.9 kilograms with duller, mottled brown coloring, and pheasant reaches the table chiefly through hunting and game farming rather than large-scale commercial husbandry.