Green Pheasant

The Green Pheasant, Phasianus versicolor, also known as Japanese Pheasant, is native to the Japanese Archipelago, to which it is endemic. The male (cock) is distinguished from that species by its dark green plumage on the breast and mantle. The male also has an iridescent violet neck, red bare facial skin and purplish green tail. The female is smaller than male and has a dull brown plumage with dark spots. It is the national bird of Japan. This species is common and widespread throughout its native range. It frequents farmlands and is often seen close to human settlements; it also has been introduced in Hawaii and (unsuccessfully) in North America as a gamebird.

Description:
The males have the crown green, the throat blue, and the neck purplish violet; the mantle is green with a few small buff vermiculations on its lower part; back and rump green, much tinged with olive or blusih grey; rectrices dark olive with broad, black bars and pinkish fringes; scapulars barred black and pale buff with a chestnut fringe and a green tip; wing-coverts light grey tinged with blue green, the greater part much marked with chestnut; flight feathers as in other True Pheasants; underparts dark green slightly tinged with blue or purple, the feathers, as those of the mantle, deeply indented. Size small: wing: 215-243 mm; tail: 270-425 mm; tarsus: 64-78 mm; culmen: 29-38 mm. The female is more strongly mottled than that of colchicus; the dark part of the feathers of the mantle is black and extends right up to the narrow, pale brown border, and it has a green sheen near the tip; the under parts are more vermiculated and blotched than in any other form of True Pheasant. Wing: 195-220 mm; tail 207-275 mm; tarsus: 55-64; culmen: 25-33 mm

Other Names:Japanese Pheasant, Versicolor Pheasant
Subspecies: Three: Southern Green Pheasant ,  Pacific Green Pheasant, Northern Green Pheasant

Breeding Age: First year; adult plumage is also attained the first year.
Range: Japan introduced to the Hawaiian Islands and western Europe.

Breeding Season: April to early June.
Clutch Size: 6 to 12 olive eggs.
Incubation Period: 23 to 25 days.
Habitat: Light wooded areas near cultivated lands and meadows.