Elliot's Pheasant

Elliot's pheasant is endemic to south-eastern China (Guizhou, Hubei, Anhui, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces), where it lives in evergreen and mountain forests at altitudes of . Its diet consists mainly of seeds, leaves and berries.

=== Breeding === Members of this breed are solitary animals, with the males especially being territorial. The courtship ritual involves males offering food and displaying. The average clutch size is between six and eight eggs. Eggs take a little under four weeks to hatch, while juvenile birds take approximately four months to mature.

Wild pheasants forage for seeds, berries, leaves, and other similar plant matter. They have also been known to eat ants.

Elliot's pheasant was first described in 1872 by Robert Swinhoe, under the name "Phasianus ellioti"; the type material was from Ningbo, Zhejiang province, China. The specific epithet ' commemorates the American ornithologist Daniel Giraud Elliot; Swinhoe explained his choice thus: :"Possessed of so many striking characteristics, it would be easy to find an appropriate name for so marked a species; but on glancing down the list of Pheasants I find that not one bears the name of Elliot; and it strikes me it would be wrong to allow his magnificent work on the subject to close without the figure of a bird dedicated to himself" and Chinese barred-backed pheasant.

Although there is ongoing habitat loss, and the species has a limited range and is hunted for food, Elliot's pheasant is evaluated as near threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, as it does not appear to be declining appreciably in numbers. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.