Lady Amherst's pheasant (''Chrysolophus amherstiae'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

of the order

Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...

and the family Phasianidae. The genus name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''khrusolophos'', "with golden crest". The English name and ''amherstiae'' commemorates

Sarah Amherst Sarah Amherst, Countess Amherst (, later Sarah Windsor, Countess of Plymouth; 1762–1838), credited as Sarah Amherst, was a British naturalist and botanist who lived in India. She identified several species which were named after her, includin ...

, who was responsible for sending the first specimen of the bird to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1828. Lady Amherst's pheasant is evaluated as Least Concern on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of Threatened Species.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to southwestern China and far northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, but has been introduced elsewhere. Previously, a self-supporting feral population was established in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the stronghold of which was in West

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

. Lady Amherst first introduced the ornamental pheasant on her estates, near the Duke of Bedford's

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

, where the birds were also shot for game and interbred. Although the introduced British populations are believed to have been extinct since 2015, occasional sightings of the species have occurred in subsequent years; a Lady Amherst's pheasant was photographed in Staplegrove,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

in May 2020, and subsequently, in early March 2021, a Lady Amherst's pheasant was spotted in a garden in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Description

The adult male is 100–120 cm (40-48 in.) in length, its tail accounting for of the total length. It is unmistakable with its nuchal cape white black, with a red crest. The long grey tail and rump is red, blue, dark green, white and yellow plumage. The "cape" can be raised in display. This species is closely related to the

golden pheasant The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ...

(''C. pictus''), but has a yellow eye, blue-green bare skin around it. The bill is horn-coloured and they had blue-gray legs.Fitter, p.86 The female is much less showy, with a duller mottled brown plumage all over, similar to that of the female common pheasant (''P. colchicus'') but with finer barring. She is very like the female golden pheasant, but has a darker head and cleaner underparts than the hen of that species. Despite the male's showy appearance, these birds are very difficult to see in their natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, which is dense, dark forests with thick undergrowth. Consequently, little is known of their behaviour in the wild.

Diet and behaviour

They feed on the ground on grain, leaves and

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s, but roost in trees at night. Whilst they can fly, they prefer to run, but if startled they can suddenly burst upwards at great speed, with a distinctive wing sound. The male emits a metallic call in the breeding season.

Gallery

File:Lady Amherst Pheasant RWD3.jpg, Male File:Lady Amherst Pheasant SMTC.jpg, Male File:Lady Amherst's Pheasant1.jpg, back view File:Lady Amherst's Pheasant2.jpg, side view File:Cascais18.jpg, Lady Amherst's x golden pheasant cross. In a pure Lady Amherst's pheasant, the red crest starts roughly halfway between the

cere The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

to the crest tip (not at the beak), and the belly would be all white without any red or brown tainting. File:Lady Amherst's Pheasant Iran.JPG, Hybrid male

References

;Bibliography * * *

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q385750 Chrysolophus, Lady Amherst's pheasant Birds of Yunnan Birds of Myanmar Birds described in 1829, Lady Amherst's pheasant