Manipur bush quail | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Galliformes |
Family: | Phasianidae |
Genus: | Perdicula |
Species: | P. manipurensis |
Binomial name | |
Perdicula manipurensis Hume, 1881 | |
The Manipur bush quail (Perdicula manipurensis) is a species of quail found in northeastern India and Bangladesh inhabiting damp grassland, particularly stands of tall grass. [2] It was first collected and described by Allan Octavian Hume on an ornithological expedition to Manipur in 1881.
P. manipurensis is listed as Endangered on the IUCN's Red List, as its habitat is small, fragmented, and rapidly shrinking. [1]
There was no confirmed sighting of the bird from 1932 until June 2006, when Anwaruddin Choudhury reported spotting the quail in Assam. [3] [4]
BBC News quoted the conservation director of the Wildlife Trust of India, Rahul Kaul, as saying, "This creature has almost literally returned from the dead." [3]
A 1911 report by Frank Finn, based on Captain Wood's field notes of 1899, noted that the species was common in the past. [5] Wood noted that the bird was commonly trapped by Manipur people after bush fires and that the local name was lanz-soibol meaning "trap quail". [6]
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS was a British political reformer, ornithologist, civil servant and botanist who worked in British India. He supported the idea of self-governance by Indians and founded the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hume has been called "the Father of Indian Ornithology" and, by those who found him dogmatic, "the Pope of Indian Ornithology".
The Himalayan quail or mountain quail, is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family. It was last reported in 1876 and is feared extinct. This species was known from only 2 locations in the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand, north-west India. The last verifiable record was in 1876 near the hill station of Mussoorie.
The Terai–Duar savanna and grasslands is a narrow lowland ecoregion at the base of the Himalayas, about 25 km (16 mi) wide, and a continuation of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in India, Nepal and Bhutan. It is colloquially called Terai in the Ganges Basin east to Nepal, then Dooars in West Bengal, Bhutan and Assam east to the Brahmaputra River. It harbours the world's tallest grasslands, which are the most threatened and rare worldwide.
The jungle bush quail is a species of quail in the family Phasianidae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, where it is found in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. It has also been reported from Nepal but has not been seen there since the 19th century, and an introduced population exists on the island of Réunion. A small species of quail 15–18 cm (5.9–7.1 in) long and weighing 57–82 g (2.0–2.9 oz), it shows significant sexual dimorphism. Males have brown upperparts with blackish and buff marking and whitish underparts with black barring. The face is mainly dark reddish-brown, with brown ear-coverts, a buffy-white moustachial stripe, and the supercilium turning whitish towards the back of the neck. Females have a similar pattern, but with pinkish-brown underparts, more uniform wings, and duller moustachial stripes.
The painted bush quail is a species of quail found in the hill forests of India. They move in small coveys on hillsides and are distinguished by their red bills and legs. They have a liquid alarm call and small groups will run in single file along paths before taking flight when flushed.
The Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Northeastern India, southern Bhutan and adjacent Bangladesh.
The rock bush quail is a species of quail found in parts of peninsular India. It is a common species with a wide range and the IUCN has rated it as being of "least concern".
The swamp francolin, also called swamp partridge, is a francolin species native to the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India and Nepal. It is considered extinct in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
Finn's weaver, also known as Finn's baya and yellow weaver is a weaver bird species native to the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India and Nepal. Two subspecies are known; the nominate subspecies occurs in the Kumaon area and salimalii in the eastern Terai.
Mrs. Hume's pheasant, also known as Hume's pheasant or the bar-tailed pheasant, is a large, up to 90 cm (35 in) long, forest pheasant with a greyish brown head, bare red facial skin, chestnut brown plumage, yellowish bill, brownish orange iris, white wingbars and metallic blue neck feathers. The male has a long greyish white, barred black and brown tail. The female is a chestnut brown bird with whitish throat, buff color belly and white-tipped tail.
The Sikkim treecreeper is a species of bird in the treecreeper family.
Hume's treecreeper was earlier included within the brown-throated treecreeper complex and identified as a separate species on the basis of their distinctive calls. This species in the treecreeper family is found in Assam, Myanmar, Shan Mountains, Northern Thailand, Laos and the Dalat Plateau.
The Manipur fulvetta or streak-throated fulvetta is a bird species in the family Paradoxornithidae. It is named for the state of Manipur in Northeast India. Like the other typical fulvettas, it was long included in the Timaliidae genus Alcippe or in the Sylviidae. In addition, it was long included in F. cinereiceps as a subspecies, and the common name "streak-throated fulvetta" was applied to all these birds. The typical F. cinereiceps are now called grey-hooded fulvetta.
The Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion which occupies the lower hillsides of the mountainous border region joining India, Bangladesh, and Burma (Myanmar) and China's Yunnan Province. The ecoregion covers an area of 135,600 square kilometres (52,400 sq mi). Located where the biotas of the Indian Subcontinent and Indochina meet, and in the transition between subtropical and tropical regions of Asia, the Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests are home to great biodiversity. The WWF rates the ecoregion as "Globally Outstanding" in biological distinctiveness.
Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary falling under Kokrajhar district and some adjacent areas of Dhubri district of Assam, India. It is famous for the golden langur and is the second protected habitat for golden langurs in India.
Perdicinae is a polyphyletic former subfamily of birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, regrouping the partridges, Old World quails, and francolins. Although this subfamily was considered monophyletic and separated from the pheasants, tragopans, junglefowls, and peafowls (Phasianinae) till the early 1990s, molecular phylogenies have shown that these two subfamilies actually constitute only one lineage. For example, some partridges are more closely affiliated to pheasants, whereas Old World quails and partridges from the Alectoris genus are closer to junglefowls. Due to this, the subfamily Perdicinae is no longer recognized by the International Ornithological Congress, with the species being split among 3 subfamilies.
Anwaruddin Choudhury, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., is an Indian naturalist, noted for his expertise on the fauna of North-East India.
Old World quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the tribe Coturnicini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. Although all species commonly referred to as "Old World quail" are in the same tribe, they are paraphyletic with respect to the other members of the tribe, such as Alectoris, Tetraogallus, Ammoperdix, Margaroperdix, and Pternistis.