About Chrysolophus pictus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Scientific name: Chrysolophus pictus (Linnaeus, 1758).
Adult male golden pheasants are approximately 100 cm (39 in) long, with the tail making up two-thirds of their total length, and weigh 500–700 g (1–2 lb). Their coloration features a golden crest and rump, and a bright red body. Males have an orange ruff or "cape" on the back that can be spread for display, forming an alternating black and orange fan that covers the entire face except for the eyes. The eye is bright yellow with a small, pinpoint black pupil. The face, throat, chin, and sides of the neck are rusty tan, and both wattles and orbital skin are yellow. The upper back is green, while the rest of the back and rump is golden-yellow. Tertiary wing feathers are blue, and scapulars are dark red. Central tail feathers are black with cinnamon spots, and the tip of the tail is cinnamon buff. Upper tail coverts match the color of the central tail feathers. Males also have a scarlet breast, and scarlet and light chestnut flanks and underparts. Their lower legs and feet are dull yellow.
Adult female (hen) golden pheasants measure 60–80 cm (24–31 in) in total length and weigh around 350 g (1 lb). Females have proportionally longer tails than males, with the tail making up roughly half of their total body length. Their plumage is far less showy than males: it is duller mottled brown, similar to that of a female common pheasant, but females are darker and more slender. A female's breast and sides are barred with buff and blackish brown, her abdomen is plain buff, and her face and throat are buff. Rarely, some abnormal females develop partial male plumage later in life. Both male and female golden pheasants have yellow legs and yellow bills.
Golden pheasants are native to mountainous forest habitats in western China. Feral populations have become established in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
Golden pheasants forage for food on the ground, feeding on grain, leaves, and invertebrates, and roost in trees at night. In winter, flocks usually forage near human settlements at forest edges, feeding primarily on wheat leaves and seeds. They also eat berries, grubs, seeds and other types of vegetation. While golden pheasants are capable of short, clumsy bursts of flight called flapping flight, they prefer to run and spend most of their time on the ground. This flapping flight occurs because they lack a deep layer of the M. pectoralis pars thoracicus muscle and the tendon that attaches to it, a muscle that stabilizes flight in other birds. This flapping flight is a shared escape mechanism with other ground birds, but golden pheasants will almost always choose to run away and hide from predators rather than fly.
Golden pheasants lay clutches of 8 to 12 eggs, which the parent incubates for around 22–23 days. Males produce a metallic call during the breeding season.
