Silver pheasant by Mario Buccellati. Italy, Milan. The 20th century. The Chinese pheasant has long been considered an exotic bird in Europe, its brilliant plumage perhaps influencing notions of the legendary Phoenix. In heraldry, it symbolizes the wealth of fauna. Pheasant sometimes allegorically indicates hunting grounds. Pheasant is a natural non-heraldic figure, which has spread in the territorial heraldry. In Western symbolism plays a role only insofar as able to reincarnate in a fantastically higher form - the Phoenix, which primarily concerns the golden pheasant.