Golden Pheasant

When explorers first returned to Europe with paintings of this most spledidly colored bird, it was thought to be a hoax, how could such a creature exist in the wild. Surprisingly, on the mountain slopes and valleys of southwestern China, in the dense dark conifer forests, this bird blends in so well that it is hard to see. Finally in 1735, the first bird was brought to England, putting all doubts to rest.

Chrysolophus pictus

Tying with Golden Pheasant Feathers

Probably the most widely used pheasant in all of salmon fly tying. Crests for toppings and tails, tippets for wings, cheeks, tail veilings, underwings and occasionally for hackles on grub patterns are some of the uses.

The red breast and yellow rump feathers are used for throats, underwings, veilings and tails. The artistic tier will find other uses for the blue wing coverts and green nape feathers. Tails are used heavily in classic salmon fly patterns in married wings and mixed wings.

Trout tiers can use single tail fibers for bodies on mayflies and nymphs. Crafters have a huge assortment of feathers of which to make beautiful things.

feather assortments
full skins/designer breeds
female
fly patterns
links to other exotics

Whole Heads

These are some nice heads. Imported from China, these are the colors of pure birds, the crests are gold and the tipets are orange with a heavey black lacing that is straight.


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Crests

These crests are also from Cinese bred birds, the feathers are long and have a nice hint of red on the tip. There is some variation in the gold color.


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Tippets

Here are 6 colors plus the natural. Dying them created some interesting effects. Check out the black, not what I expected. Click on the thumbnail to see and enlarged image.


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natural	red	black	florescent pink	highlander green	hot orange	purple

Tail Feathers

Here is a selection of tail feathers. The center tails are flawless, notice how the bottom edge fades to tan. The sidetails are interesting, and range from 3" to 24". The sword feathers are the actual tail coverts.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Wild type - Red Golden

Males

With all the inbreeding and crossing, finding a good pure golden is getting hard. Notice the pure red. Brilliant and no yellow bar like the male on the sidebar. Wings are solid blue, crest is long and the throat is light in color. This is a nice example of a pure bird.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Yellow Golden

Males

There are many color phases of the color mutation called yellow golden. I always select for the birds with the brightest yellow breasts and the darkest wings. Back should be lemon in color.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Dark-throated Golden

Males

Here is an odd color mutation, even the tail is noticably different. The throat on this bird is black, tippets on the lighter side, and breast has an unusual mottled look.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Cinnamin Golden

Males

A fadded version of the red golden, this color mutation has some interesting feathers. The red is softer than on the wild type, lots of brown on the wings, and the tail is noticably faded in color.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Silver Golden

Males

Bred to be a very light bird, the breast verges on white with hints of pale yellow. The crest and tippets are the lightest on any golden color mutation. The tail still has the wild type markings but almost silver in color.


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center tails	side tails	swords

Full Skin

Here is a nice hen, full feather, nice markings, especially on the tail. Notice the back, much different than an Amherst hen. The belly is more yellow and finer barring on the breast.