Painted bush quail

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Painted bush quail
A male P. e. erythrorhyncha with chick.

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Perdicula
Species:
P. erythrorhyncha
Binomial name
Perdicula erythrorhyncha
(Sykes, 1832)[2]
Synonyms

Microperdix erythrorhynchus
Cryptoplectron erythrorhynchus
Microperdix blewitti

The painted bush quail (Perdicula erythrorhyncha) is a species of quail found in the hill forests of India. They move in small coveys on hillsides and are distinguished by their red bills and legs. They have a liquid alarm call and small groups will run in single file along paths before taking flight when flushed.

Description

Female (left) and male.

This quail is darkish brightly colored with a deep red bill and legs, eye-catching even in flight. The female has brick-red underpart and lacks the white throat and head stripe of the male. The male has a black face with a white supercilium and throat. These quail are typically found in a covey of 6 to 10 birds. They come out in open grassy patches or on forest roads and cart tracks to feed on seeds or grain (and small insects[3]) and dust-bathe in the morning and evening. The covey quickly reunites by the constant call of the members to one another. A series of soft whistles are heard when members of a scattered covey regroup. The territorial call of male is a pleasant, oft-repeated triple note kirikee-kirikee-kirikee.[4][5][6]

It is 6.6–7.5 in (17–19 cm) long and weighs roughly 2.4–3.1 oz (68–88 g).[7]

Distribution and habitat

This species is mainly found in the hill forests of peninsular India. There are two apparently disjunct populations. Subspecies blewitti is found in the

Shevaroys.[5]

Behaviour and ecology

Head of male

These quails are usually seen in small groups of 8 to 10. When flushed they scatter in different directions and then begin rally calling to reunite. Males are believed to be monogynous.[11] They are pugnacious and trappers are known to use decoy males to capture others.[12] The call of the breeding male is a kirkee..kirkee and other calls include soft whistles which rises and falls in pitch.[11] The

nesting season varies locally, but is said to breed mainly in December to March. Nests are typically found in the ground at the root of a bush or grass clump, sometimes thinly lined with grass. The female lays 4 to 7 eggs at a time, which are incubated by the female alone for 16–18 days before hatching. Females are said to defend their young often by attacking dogs and even humans that intrude.[13] Chicks are said to be able to fly at a very early age.[11]

A flagellate parasite Hypotrichomonas avium (

Parabasalia: Hypotrichomonadida) was described from a specimen found in the intestine of a painted bush quail.[14]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679007A92798106.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b Sykes, W.H. (1832). "Catalogue of Birds (systematically arranged) of the Rasorial, Grallatorial, and Natatorial Orders, observed in the Dukhun". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. Part 2: 149–172.
  3. ^ Mason, C.W. (1912). "The food of birds in India". Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India. Entomological Series. 3: 234.
  4. ^ Primrose, AP (1916). "Notes on the Painted Bush Quail Microperdix erythrorhynchus F.B.I. 1359". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 24 (3): 597.
  5. ^ a b Jerdon, TC (1864). The Birds of India. Volume 3. George Wyman & Co. pp. 584–585.
  6. ^ Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions. pp. 125–126.
  7. ^ Hume, A.O.; Marshall, C.H.T. (1880). Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon. Vol. II. Calcutta: A.O. Hume and C.H.T. Marshall. p. 127.
  8. ^ Price, Trevor D. (1980). "The seasonality and occurrence of birds in the Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 76 (3): 379–422.
  9. ^ Hume, A.O. (1874). "Novelties. Microperdix blewitti, Sp. Nov". Stray Feathers. 2 (6): 512–513.
  10. ^ Sykes, W.H. (1857). "On the Geology of a portion of Dukhun, East Indies". In Carter, Henry J. (ed.). Geological papers on Western India, including Cutch, Sinde, and the South-East coast of Arabia. Bombay: Government of India. pp. 89–115.
  11. ^ a b c Ali, S & SD Ripley (1980). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 2 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 51–53.
  12. ^ Baker, EC Stuart (1924). "The game birds of India, Burma and Ceylon. Part 37". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 29 (4): 850–863.
  13. ^ Daly, WM (1887). "The Bush Quail Perdicula erythroryncha". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 2 (2): 149.
  14. PMID 5535603
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Painted_bush_quail&oldid=1112880854"