Creature Feature #584: Pheasant

Colouring-in has recently suffered a resurgence in popularity, for adults, thanks to mindfulness and also it's amazing relaxation effect. Now, this is one trend I most whole-heartedly support, because it's something I've been doing for years. My "day job", for example consists almost exclusively of social interactions and customer service, which leaves me drained and anti-social by the end of the day. I relax by sketching, inking and colouring. Whilst I am inclined to argue that my favourite part of the process is actually the initial pencilwork (provided I can get it look more-or-less right on the 2nd or 3rd attempt), too many people are quick to brush away such hobbies with phrases like "I can't draw", but no-one ever says "I can't colour". I mean, pre-schoolers colour, after all.

So here, because this evening I felt like sketching rather than colouring, is the line-art for a Golden Pheasant. It's a large image, a PNG, and I haven't even watermarked it so, if you wish, you can save him, print him off and perhaps you might like to colour him in yourself. If you do, please feel free to drop me an email with a scanned image: lemurkat@gmail.com

I shall colour him in tomorrow, or perhaps the next day. Or, perhaps this week I shall upload every image as line-art, thus allowing you, the viewer, to assist me in my Animal-a-Day project.

Pheasants are another member of the Gamebird family, which for some reason has a lot of members starting with the letter P. They are characterised by the male's long, train-like tail feathers (unlike the peacock's train, which is not his tail) and his general overall gaudy plumage. Which you can't see here (yet), because this Golden Pheasant is currently only lineart. Some species also sport wattles, crests and other adornments. Females are generally pretty drab in colouration - a neccesity as she must remain camouflaged while she incubates her eggs. Pheasants are quite popular in aviculture and also hunted for sport. The most widely recognised is the Common (or Ringneck) Pheasant from Europe, which is not nearly as pretty as this Asian fellow above. There are quite a few species, spread across the northern hemisphere and introduced as ferals to the southern.