Nahan's partridge (''Ptilopachus nahani''), also known as the Nahan's francolin, is a

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 ...

traditionally placed 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 ...

. As suggested by its alternative name, it was formerly believed to be a

francolin Francolins are birds in the tribe Gallini that traditionally have been placed in the genus ''Francolinus'', but now commonly are divided into multiple genera. As previously defined, they were paraphyletic as the genus '' Pternistis'', which wa ...

and placed either in ''

Francolinus ''Francolinus'' is a genus of birds in the francolin group of the tribe Gallini in the pheasant family. Species Its three species range from western Asia and central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzsta ...

'' or ''

Pternistis ''Pternistis'' is a genus of galliform birds formerly classified in the spurfowl group of the partridge subfamily of the pheasant family. They are described as "partridge-francolins" in literature establishing their phylogenetic placement o ...

'', but it is now known that its closest relative is the

stone partridge The stone partridge (''Ptilopachus petrosus'') is a bird of the Odontophoridae, New World quail family. This largely brown bird, which commonly holds its tail raised, is found in scrubland and lightly wooded habitats, often near rocks, from Kenya ...

and together may in fact be the only African representatives of the

New World quail The New World quail are small birds, that despite their similar appearance and habits to the Old World quail, belong to a different family known as the Odontophoridae. In contrast, the Old World quail are in the Phasianidae family, sharing only a ...

s (Odontophoridae).Crowe, T. (2010). ''Phylogenetic affinities of enigmatic African galliforms: the Stone Partridge Ptilopachus petrosus and Latham's and Nahan's 'Francolins' Francolinus lathami and F. nahani.'' Cladistics 26: 206-206. (Abstract).

Description

At about in length, the Nahan's partridge is a relatively small,

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

bird with a red eye-ring, legs and base of the bill, brownish upperparts, and black-and-white underparts and head.

Distribution and habitat

This

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

species is found in the rainforests in northeastern

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and western

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

,McGowan, P. J. K. (1994). Nahan's francolin (''Francolinus nahani''). Pp. 497 in: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J. eds. (1994). ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

.'' Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. and it is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and hunting.

References

Nahan's partridge Birds of East Africa Birds of Central Africa Nahan's partridge Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub