Chrysolophus PictusChina"s "Golden Rooster" Sparkling in the World

Pheasants are the most prolific groups in the endemic birds in China. They are both terrestrial birds， and resident birds； they are poor at flying， thus easily to become endemic. So among the endemic birds in China， pheasants take up of 22， accounting for nearly 1/5 ranking first in endemic birds in terms of numbers. Pheasants are recognized by people because the male pheasants often have extraordinarily colorful plumage， in contrast， the female then seem bleak. This is a common phenomenon in the animal world， because the males have to attract the females with gorgeous look， as if to say "do I look handsome or not"， while the females usually hide as much as possible due to the nursery.

The most well-known pheasant is probably the chrysolophus pictus which is the famous Chinese "Golden Rooster" worldwide. When Zhen Zuoxin， the academician and authority in ornithology research was still alive， he once recalled that the reason why he came back to motherland to study zoology is that he was so attracted by chrysolophus pictus produced in China when seeing it in the foreign herbarium. Early in the 1890s to the 1950s， chrysolophus pictus was introduced many times to various places in the UK to stock and breed. So chrysolophus pictus is endemic to China is only in terms of wild population.

The feather of the chrysolophus pictus is as gleamed as brocade. It has a golden crest and red belly so it is called “chrysolophus pictus”. The color of its plumage is gorgeous， and in traditional culture， it means "Golden Rooster crowing" and "Rooster Annunciation，" so it is included in the list of candidates of "national bird". Chrysolophus pictus is mainly found in central and western China， such as southwest of Qinghai， southwest of Gansu and Shanxi， Sichuan and Hubei etc. It is said that the name of Baoji City， in Shan Xi Province comes from this bird.