A number of species described in very early accounts have been determined to be races of Turnix suscitator. Turnix fasciata occurs in the Philippines (Palawan, Mindoro, Luzon, Masbate, Sibuyan, and panay) as does T. nigrescens (Negros, Cebu) (Hachisuka 1931, Delacour and Mayr 1946). The latter race has a more blackish rump (Delacour and Mayr 1946). Turnix pugnax and T. rufilatus (Finn 1911) are also two of the Philippine Button Quails. Other taxa considered to be insular subspecies of Turnix suscitator are T. s. taigoor, T. s. leggei, T. s. plumbipes, T. s. bengalensis, T. s. blakistoni, T. s. interrumpens, T. s. pallescens, T. s. thai, T. s. atrogularis, T. s. machetes, T. s. kuiperi, T. s. baweanus, T. s. powelli, T. s. rostrata, and T. s. okinavensis (Johnsgard 1991).
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
This button quail is highly adaptable to living in close proximity to humans and benefiting from cultivation practices. Therefore, populations are considered to be stable and sustainable (Johnsgard 1991).
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
This button quail is not known to adversely affect humans.
This button quail has been bred in captivity and may be found in aviaries.
These quail will eat various grass seeds, including millet, fresh greens, and small invertebrates. They may also consume insects and a bit of green vegetation (Johnsgard 1991).
Animal Foods: insects
Plant Foods: leaves; seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: omnivore
They range from India to China and Taiwan (Harper 1986). They are also found in the Philippines (Hachisuka 1931, Delacour and Mayr 1946) as well as eastern Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Johnsgard 1991).
Biogeographic Regions: oriental (Native )
These button quail inhabit old rice paddy fields and grassy plains (Delacour and Mayr 1946). They are adapted to areas that are dry and sandy with woody vegetation overgrowth or scrub, which these button quail use as cover. They may also be found at 2450 m in the mountains in India, at the edge of forests, grasslands or cinnamon plantations, in bamboo jungles, or in deserted cotton fields (Johnsgard 1991).
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
They are approximately 15 cm (Harper 1986). Wing measurement for males is 72-85 mm and 77-90 for females. The male's tail length occurs within a narrower range than that for the female. His is 35-37 mm in length, while hers is 33-41 mm long. Tarsus length for the male is 22 or 23 mm, and the female tarsal length occurs in the range of 22-25 mm. Males weigh 35-52 g., averaging 46 g. Females average 60.7 g. and weigh in the range of 47-68 g (Johnsgard 1991).
Males have cream-colored throats, and the females have black throats. Females are more brightly colored than the males (Harper 1986). They are blackish-gray above and mottled with chestnut and scattered whitish streaks. Across the back of the neck is chestnut. The forehead and upper throat are black, while the sides of the head oare black with mottled whitish markings. The lower throat is white, and a narrow chestnut collar is sometimes present. There are definite bars evident on the the breast which are not present in immature birds (Delacour and Mayr 1946). These quail do not have a hind toe.
Range mass: 35 to 68 g.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
The female is a prolific layer. She will lay usually four eggs at a time, moving from male to male. Each egg may weigh from 4.6 to 7.1 g. Incubation period is approximately thirteen days. The chicks are precocial in nature and mature in 40 days (Johnsgard 1991).
The breeding season may occur throughout the year, or there may be two nesting cycles per year. Bamboo jungles are preferred breeding habitat, and the nest consists of fine grasses that may be in a hollowed-out area under the cover of scrub or grass or hidden in thick grassy fields. Both male and female will engage in nest building. Males will incubate eggs in this dome-shaped nest that is hidden close to the ground. In captivity, females will care for the young, including feeding the chicks (Johnsgard 1991).
Range eggs per season: 4 (low) .
Average time to hatching: 13 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Parental Investment: precocial
The barred buttonquail or common bustard-quail (Turnix suscitator) is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are closely related to, the true quails. This species is resident from India across tropical Asia to south China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
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.[2] Gmelin cited the English ornithologist Francis Willughby who 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 genus Turnix that was introduced in 1791 by French naturalist in Pierre Bonnaterre.[4][5] The genus name is an abbreviation of the genus Coturnix. The specific epithet suscitator is Latin and means "awakening".[6]
Sixteen subspecies are recognised.[5]
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.
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.[7] It is found in most habitats except dense forest and desert, in particular, scrub jungle, light deciduous forest and farmlands.
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.
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.
The barred buttonquail or common bustard-quail (Turnix suscitator) is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are closely related to, the true quails. This species is resident from India across tropical Asia to south China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
At Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, India
