Species Spotlight: Lady Amherst Pheasant
Alex Levitskiy
This week’s featured bird species is the Lady Amherst Pheasant (Chrysolophus amherstiae). This pheasant, being found in Southwestern China and Northern Burma, is an ornamental bird commonly found in the collections of many aviculture enthusiasts across the United States. It is considered a Ruffed Pheasant, since the males sport an elaborate ruff which is utilized during the courtship displays. The males take two years to acquire their breeding plumage which features multiple contrasting colors. The hens are overall a rufous brown color. During courtship, the male chases the hen and his display includes extending the ruff and hissing. Lady Amherst Pheasants are a pleasure to watch and raise as they can become quite friendly.
Although not endangered, the Lady Amherst Pheasant is becoming increasingly harder to find in its pure form in captivity. A closely related species, the Golden Pheasant, hybridizes with Lady Amherst Pheasants to produce fertile offspring. Crosses have occurred in captivity and the hybrid progeny have been bred, being passed as pure stock. Others also attempt to create color mutations, which are truly no more than hybrid birds. Most do not realize the damage this causes to the dwindling gene pool of pure birds. Pure birds are challenging to find, but not impossible. More people need to focus on keeping these gorgeous pheasants pure, since one of the objectives of aviculture is preserving birds in their pure form. I suggest educating oneself on the Lady Amherst and find reputable stock, which is typically out of imported lines, as I have done. This species is a great beginner pheasant to help people gain experience before pursuing other species, which may or may not be endangered.
SS: LA- Pic 1
Male Lady Amherst Pheasant
SS: LA- Pic 2
Lady Amherst Pheasant Hen
(All of the above photos were taken by Alex Levitskiy)
The next picture is a comparison of a hybrid (Lady Amherst x Golden) pheasants compared to a picture of pure Lady Amherst pheasants in the wild (on the bottom) to provide a comparison.
Depending on the extent of the hybridization, the hybrid birds may vary a lot in appearance. Various regions of the bird’s plumages will give away whether the bird is pure or not. I have noted some prominent regions that give away that that bird is a hybrid. The crown should be a short metallic green and the crest should be crimson red. In the hybrid the crown is also crimson red. The legs in the hybrids are not bluish-grey and the facial skin is not supposed to be yellow like in the hybrids. All of the pictures were taken from The Internet Bird Collection (http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/lady-amherst039s-pheasant-chrysolophus-amherstiae/colony).
