The Lady Amherst`s pheasant Chrysolophus amherstiae
The Lady Amherst`s pheasant is closely related to the golden pheasant. The species was named after Sarah Amherst, wife of the British diplomat William Pitt Amherst, Governor General of India (1773—1857), who brought several birds of this species from China to London in 1816. In the beauty of the plumage male Lady Amherst`s pheasants are equal to male golden pheasants; the females of these species can be distinguished from each other by the colour of the circles around their eyes, which are greyish-blue in Lady Amherst`s pheasants but have a reddish tinge in golden pheasants. The Lady Amherst`s pheasants are also found in China but are distributed farther to the south and at higher altitudes compared with golden pheasants. Their range includes northeastern Burma and southeastern Tibet. The birds are usually found in dense thorny thickets and bamboo forests. During extremely cold winters, Lady Amherst`s pheasants move to sunny valleys to find refuge from the wind and frost of their usual habitat. Interestingly, feral populations of the Lady Amherst`s pheasant also live in some regions of England where they were introduced in the past, although in different environment: they inhabit coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests, keeping under the lower branches of young trees. The Chinese call this bird “sun-chi” – “fowl of the buds.” In fact, these pheasants also eat ferns, grain, nuts, seeds, spiders, and insects.
The male Lady Amherst`s pheasant does not participate in brood-rearing but always stays close to his family. The clutch of this species usually contains up to 12 cream-white eggs. The chicks hatch after 22 to 23 days of incubation; they are immediately able to stand on their feet, run and forage. The female is always on guard, caring for the offspring and warming them up at night. In the natural range, this species decreases in numbers, being rather rare.
