A secretive pheasant whose male displays its head and neck feathers in a courtship dance.
Males have colourful feathers on the head and neck. Females have subdued plumage that blends into their surroundings.
Lady Amherst’s Pheasants nest on the ground in shallow round depressions lined with dead leaves and a few feathers. Females incubate and later lead chicks to forage;brood activity expands into the surrounding cover.
A 1989 study in the western mountains of Kunming found six nests in thickets or beneath dead branches. Incubation lasted about 24 days. Chicks remained in the nest for several hours after hatching, then followed the female away without returning to the nest.
Young broods rested at night in dense bushes. Once chicks could fly, they roosted in trees. The study also recorded young feeding on fruit, including Rubus berries. Ground, concealing shrubs and branches supported different stages of brood development.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Kunming study found lower breeding density in pine secondary forest with fewer plant species and limited concealment. Its authors discussed food, cover, logging and grazing as possible influences. Understory conditions and brood refuges are relevant to habitat conservation.