Abdominal fat pad from farmed Korean ring-necked pheasants that had scanty fat depot was characterized in terms of adipocyte size as determined by free fat cells liberated by collagenase incubation. Similar parameters was also measured in the broiler chicken with similar body weight to those of pheasants. The adipocyte from pheasants was much smaller than that of broiler chicken. The results of this study suggested that the scanty development of abdominal fat pad in the pheasants appeared to be due to a smaller size of adipocyte.