Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) hens of different origin. Dispersion and habitat use after release

Because of the importance of pheasants as a game bird species in many European Countries, information on the success of the restocking programs is interesting for evaluation. For this reason the survival, behaviour and habitat selection of 10 wild translocated and 20 released ring-necked pheasants (10 offspring of wild captured and 10 from the farmed strain, both farm-reared) was studied using radio-telemetry during March-August (fixes were grouped in 3 categorized periods: March 2 - April 18; April 19 - May 28; May 29 - August 16). All the captive reared pheasants were reared according to the new disciplinary rules set forth by the Toscana region for the production of pheasants destined to be released in the wild as part of a game repopulation program. The study was carried out in a hilly area of the Tuscany characterised by 18.1% woodland (core: 1654895E, 4850468N). Results showed that live weights were higher in the farm-reared pheasants (either directly captured or offspring of the captured, P<0.05). The tarsus length statistically differed between the farmed offspring of the captured pheasants and the farm strain (P