Golden Pheasant

About 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 khrusolophos, "with golden crest", and pictus is Latin for "painted" from pingere, "to paint".

The golden pheasant was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Phasianus pictus. He specified the type location as China. The specific epithet pictus is Latin meaning "painted". The golden pheasant is now placed with Lady Amherst's pheasant in the genus Chrysolophus that was introduced in 1834 by the English zoologist John Edward Gray.

The adult male is approximately 100 cm (39 in) in length, with its tail accounting for two-thirds of the total length, and around 500–700 g (1–2 lb) in weight. Its coloration is characterized by a golden crest and rump and by a bright red body. It possesses an orange ruff or "cape" on the back that can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers all of the face... Wikipedia →