Sunday, August 1, 2010

China -Sweden joint issued on bird stamps


Sweden and China have joint issued the specific stamps featured Chrysolophus amherstiae and Phasianus colcuhics. The collaboration stamps issued these stamp on 1997, each in two stamps single value.

Chrysolophus amherstiae, or The Lady Amherst's Pheasant, is a bird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae. The adult male is 100-120 cm in length, its tail accounting for 80 cm of the total length. It is unmistakable with its black and silver head, long grey tail and rump, and red, blue, white and yellow body plumage. The "cape" can be raised in display. The female is much less showy, with a duller mottled brown plumage all over.

These are native to south western China and Myanmar, but have been introduced elsewhere, and have established a self-supporting, but now declining, feral population in England.Widespread throughout its large range area with population estimated 20,000 till 49,999 birds,this species is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.They feed on the ground on grain, leaves and invertebrates, but roost in trees at night.

The name commemorates Sarah Countess Amherst, wife of William Pitt Amherst, Governor General of Bengal, who was responsible for sending the first specimen of the bird to London in 1828.


Phasianus colchicus or the Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae).
There are many colour forms of the male Common Pheasant, ranging in colour from nearly white to almost black.,due to captive breeding and hybridization between subspecies and the Green Pheasant.

Body weight can range from 0.5 to 3 kg. The adult male length is 60–89 cm with a long brown streaked black tail, almost 50 cm of the total length. The body plumage is barred bright gold and brown plumage with green, purple and white markings. The head is bottle green with a small crest and distinctive red wattle. The female (hen) is much less showy, with a duller mottled brown plumage all over and measuring 50–63 cm long including a tail.

The males are polygynous as is typical for many Phasianidae, and are often accompanied by a harem of several females. Common Pheasants nest on the ground, producing a clutch of around ten eggs over a two-three week period in April to June.They feed solely on the ground but roost in sheltered trees at night. They eat a wide variety of animal invertebrates, small vertebrates and vegetable type-food, like fruit, seeds and leaves.

Common Pheasants are native to Asia, their original range extending from between the Black and Caspian Seas to Manchuria, Siberia, Korea, Mainland China and Taiwan. The birds are found in woodland, farmland, scrub and wetlands. In its natural habitat they lives in grassland near water with small copses of trees. It has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird.

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