Lady Amherst pheasants inhabit bamboo thickets in the interior of China from southeastern Tibet to upper Burma. Their body length can be up to 50 inches including tail feathers.  The tail is long and ornate and is arched or "vaulted" into an inverted V-shape in cross section.  Their legs are clean and may be spurred.    

Lady Amherst pheasants are among the showiest of all birds.  The males are the ones with the fine feathers; their mates are very drab.  When European naturalists saw paintings of these "flower" pheasants, they thought they could not be real birds!

They are closely related to the golden pheasant and interbreed with them, so pure examples are now rare.

Our first 3 pheasants were born in Jan. 2001 and donated in April 2002.  The two females have laid many eggs, two of which were successfully artificially incubated.  Their zoo diet is 2 cups of gamecock mix, and 1-cup fruits and lettuce with vionate.