The wild type Golden Pheasant is a truly striking bird, although great sexual dimorphism is present. Males are by far the more impressive sex. Female Golden Pheasants are predominantly brown. There is dark barring present over her body save over the buff colored face and throat. The sides and breast of the female Golden Pheasant have brown and buff barring. The abdomen is simply buff colored. Male Golden Pheasants have impressive golden crests atop their heads. Many times this silky textured crest has a reddish tinge at the tip, though lower red hints can mean that the pheasant is not of pure blood lines. The head and neck are buff colored, though the wattles and the skin about the eyes is yellow. Male Golden Pheasants have a peach or light orange cape. Each feather has a dark edging to it, giving a "scaly" appearance. The breast is bright scarlet red, fading into a chestnut coloration toward the lower parts of the abdomen and the flanks. The upper back is green in color, and the rest of the upper part of male Golden Pheasants is golden colored. Their wings are dark red with blue tertiary feathers. The upper tail coverts are black, as are the central tail feathers. These central tail feathers often have cinnamon colored specks. The tip of the tail is a buff color with a tinge of cinnamon. Males and females have yellow colored legs and beaks. There are a large number of color mutations available that can be as strikingly colored as the wild type. These mutations are pure Golden Pheasants, although a variety of hybrid crosses can be found as well. Pure color mutations arose as early as the late 1800's, and new mutations are still being propagated today.
