Barred Buttonquail

The barred buttonquail or common bustard-quail (''Turnix suscitator'') is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are not closely related to, the true quails. This species is resident from India across tropical Asia to south China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Taxonomy

The barred buttonquail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the grouse like birds in the genus ''Tetrao'' and coined the binomial name ''Tetrao suscitator''. Gmelin cited the English ornithologist Francis Willughby who in 1678 had described and illustrated the "Indian Quail of Brontius" from the Island of Java. The barred buttonquail is now placed in the genus ''Turnix'' that was introduced in 1791 by French naturalist in Pierre Bonnaterre. The genus name is an abbreviation of the genus ''Coturnix''. The specific epithet ''suscitator'' is Latin and means "awakening".

Sixteen subspecies are recognised.
* ''T. s. plumbipes'' (Hodgson, 1837) – Nepal to northeast India and north Myanmar
* ''T. s. bengalensis'' Blyth, 1852 – central, southwest Bengal (northeast India)
* ''T. s. taigoor'' (Sykes, 1832) – India (except above)
* ''T. s. leggei'' Baker, ECS, 1920 – Sri Lanka
* ''T. s. okinavensis'' Phillips, AR, 1947 – south Kyushu to Ryukyu Islands (south Japan)
* ''T. s. rostratus'' Swinhoe, 1865 – Taiwan
* ''T. s. blakistoni'' (Swinhoe, 1871) – east Myanmar to south China and north Indochina
* ''T. s. pallescens'' Robinson & Baker, ECS, 1928 – central south Myanmar
* ''T. s. thai'' Deignan, 1946 – northwest, central Thailand
* ''T. s. atrogularis'' ( Eyton, 1839) – south Myanmar, south Thailand and Malay Peninsula
* ''T. s. suscitator'' (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – Sumatra, Belitung and Bangka Island (east of south Sumatra), Java, Bawean (north of east Java) and Bali
* ''T. s. powelli'' Guillemard, 1885 – Lombok to Alor Island (west, central Lesser Sunda Islands)
* ''T. s. rufilatus'' Wallace, 1865 – Sulawesi
* ''T. s. haynaldi'' Blasius, W, 1888 – Palawan group (southwest Philippines)
* ''T. s. fasciatus'' (Temminck, 1815) – Luzon, Mindoro, Masbate and Sibuyan Island (north, central Philippines)
* ''T. s. nigrescens'' Tweeddale, 1878 – Cebu, Guimaras, Negros and Panay (central west Philippines)

Description

A typical little buttonquail, rufous-brown above, rusty and buff below. Chin, throat and breast closely barred with black. Female larger and more richly coloured, with throat and middle of breast black. The blue-grey bill and legs, and yellowish white eyes are diagnostic, as are also the pale buff shoulder-patches on the wings when in flight. Absence of hind toe distinguishes Bustard and Button quails from true quails. Pairs, in scrub and grassland. The calls are a motorcycle-like ''drr-r-r-r-r-r'' and a loud ''hoon- hoon-hoon''.

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs throughout India up to elevations of about 2500 m in the Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Indonesia, the Philippines and most of Southeast Asia. There are four geographical races that differ somewhat in colour. It is found in most habitats except dense forest and desert, in particular, scrub jungle, light deciduous forest and farmlands.

Breeding

Buttonquails differ from true quails chiefly in the female being polyandrous The female is the brighter of the sexes, initiates courtship and builds the ground nest. She fights with other females for the possession of a cock, uttering a loud drumming drr-r-r-r-r as a challenge to rival hens and also to announce herself to a cock. Eggs when laid are left to be incubated by the cock who also tends the young, which can run as soon as they are hatched. The hen goes off to acquire another mate, and perhaps yet another, and so on, though evidently only one at a time. They breed practically throughout the year, varying locally. The nest is a grass-lined scrape or depression in scrub jungle or crops, often arched over by surrounding grass. The usual clutch comprises 3 or 4 greyish white eggs, profusely speckled with reddish brown or blackish purple.

Conservation

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the barred buttonquail is evaluated as being of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of threatened species.

References

* ''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp,

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Barred buttonquail videos, photos & sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection

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barred buttonquail
Birds of Indomalaya
barred buttonquail
barred buttonquail