Barred Buttonquail

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iBarred Buttonquail

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Turniciformes
Family:	Turnicidae
Genus:	Turnix
Species:	T. suscitator

Binomial name

Turnix suscitator
Gmelin, 1789

The Barred Buttonquail, Turnix suscitator is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails. This species is resident from India across tropical Asia to south China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Some buttonquail are notoriously difficult to see, but this species is quite easy, since it tends to cross, or run along, savannah tracks, and is readily viewed from a vehicle.

It is a small drab running bird, which avoids flying. It is a species which inhabits warm grasslands and feeds on insects and seeds.

Barred Buttonquail has a grey bill and legs, and is heavily barred black on the upperparts and breast. The underparts and flanks are chestnut. The female has a blackish throat and central breast.

The female is the brighter of the sexes, initiates courtship and builds the ground nest. The male incubates the normally four speckled greyish eggs, and tends the young, which can run as soon as they are hatched.

The calls are a motorcycle-like drr-r-r-r-r-r and a loud hoon- hoon-hoon.

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Barred Buttonquail is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Turnix suscitator. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6