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Barred buttonquail

Thebarred buttonquailorcommon bustard-quail(Turnix suscitator) is abuttonquail,one of a small family ofbirdswhich resemble, but are not closely related to, the truequails.This species is resident fromIndiaacross tropicalAsiato southChina,Indonesiaand thePhilippines.

Barred buttonquail
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Turnicidae
Genus: Turnix
Species:
T. suscitator
Binomial name
Turnix suscitator
(Gmelin, JF,1789)
At Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, India

Taxonomy

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The barred buttonquail wasformally describedin 1789 by the German naturalistJohann Friedrich Gmelinin his revised and expanded edition ofCarl Linnaeus'sSystema Naturae.He placed it with the grouse like birds in thegenusTetraoand coined thebinomial nameTetrao suscitator.[2]Gmelin cited the English ornithologistFrancis Willughbywho in 1678 had described and illustrated the "Indian Quail of Brontius" from the Island of Java.[3]The barred buttonquail is now placed in the genusTurnixthat was introduced in 1791 by French naturalist inPierre Bonnaterre.[4][5]The genus name is an abbreviation of the genusCoturnix.The specific epithetsuscitatorisLatinand means "awakening".[6]

Sixteensubspeciesare recognised.[5]

Description

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A female of racetaigoor

A typical littlebuttonquail,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-likedrr-r-r-r-r-rand a loudhoon- hoon-hoon.[citation needed]

Distribution and habitat

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Dust bathing

The species occurs throughoutIndiaup to elevations of about 2500 m in the Himalayas,Sri Lanka,Bangladesh,Burma,Indonesia,thePhilippinesand most ofSoutheast Asia.There are four geographical races that differ somewhat in colour.[7]It is found in most habitats except dense forest and desert, in particular, scrub jungle, light deciduous forest and farmlands.

Breeding

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ssp.powelli

Buttonquails differ from true quails chiefly in the female being polyandrous[8]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

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Widespread and common throughout its large range, the barred buttonquail is evaluated as being ofLeast Concernon theIUCN Red Listofthreatened species.

References

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  1. ^BirdLife International (2016)."Turnix suscitator".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016:e.T22680549A92865610.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680549A92865610.en.Retrieved11 November2021.
  2. ^Gmelin, Johann Friedrich(1789).Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis(in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 763.
  3. ^Willughby, Francis(1678).Ray, John(ed.).The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the County of Warwick.London: John Martyn. p. 171; Plate 29.
  4. ^Bonnaterre, Pierre Joseph;Vieillot, Louis Pierre(1823).Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature: Ornithologie(in French). Vol. Part 1. Paris: Panckoucke. pp.lxxxii,5-6.Although the title page bears the date of 1823 the section (livraison) containing the description was published in 1791. See:Dickinson, E.C.;Overstreet, L.K.; Dowsett, R.J.; Bruce, M.D. (2011).Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers.Northampton, UK: Aves Press. p. 78.ISBN978-0-9568611-1-5.
  5. ^abGill, Frank;Donsker, David;Rasmussen, Pamela,eds. (August 2022)."Buttonquail, thick-knees, sheathbills, plovers, oystercatchers, stilts, painted-snipes, jacanas, Plains-wanderer, seedsnipes".IOC World Bird List Version 12.2.International Ornithologists' Union.Retrieved14 October2022.
  6. ^Jobling, James A. (2010).The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.London: Christopher Helm. pp.393,375.ISBN978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. ^"Turnix suscitator (barred buttonquail)".Animal Diversity Web.Retrieved22 January2018.
  8. ^Ali, Salim;Daniel, J.C.(1983).The Book of Indian Birds, Twelfth Centenary edition.New Delhi:Bombay Natural History Society/Oxford University Press.
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