The mountain bamboo partridge (''Bambusicola fytchii'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Phasianidae Phasianidae is a family (biology), family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, grouse, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Turkey bird, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular Game (hu ...

. It is found in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. The binomial commemorates Major-General

Albert Fytche Lieutenant-General Albert Fytche CSI (21 September 1820 – 16 June 1892) was a British Indian Army officer who served as Chief Commissioner of the British Crown Colony of Burma from February 1867 to April 1871. Educated at Rugby School and com ...

. Their plumage is a mix of browns, cream and grey. They have distinctive black and white eye stripes and their breast and abdomen is pale with brown speckles. Mountain bamboo

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

s live close to water in

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

scrub forest, tall grassland and degraded forest areas with bamboo groves. They remain under shrub cover for much of the day, moving into the open in the early morning and late evening to feed. They will only fly when threatened, returning to cover quickly. Breeding occurs in the summer months between March and September. The nest is a simple scraped out dip in the ground lined with grass. The female incubates the eggs for 18 to 19 days. The male meanwhile stays close to the nest and feeds the female and, once hatched, the chicks. The diet of the mountain bamboo partridge is primarily tender, young

shoots and the fresh, young foliage, but also includes a wide variety of

seeds In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the ...

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

, shoots and

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

. The mountain bamboo partridge is fairly common throughout its range. However, population numbers do appear to be declining. Areas of the bamboo partridges' habitat is cleared for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

but they have been seen living on the cultivated land. There is some evidence of hunting in parts of their range.

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192704/http://www.twycrosszoo.org/mountain-bamboo-partridge.aspx mountain bamboo partridge Birds of Northeast India Birds of Yunnan Birds of Myanmar Birds of Laos mountain bamboo partridge Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub