Gould included the pheasant, at the request of his subscribers, although he considered that, like the turkey and peacock, it was an introduced species. However, as it was partially wild in woods it was an exception. The portrayal of a male pheasant killed by a snare represented 'an old and true Phasianus colchicus which has met a fate to which hundreds of its brethren are annually subjected'.
DISTRIBUTION: Widespread but local in south and central Eurasia, and east and south Asia. Introduced into Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, central and south Canada and northern United States