Manipur Bush-Quail Perdicula manipurensis Scientific name definitions

c. 19–20 cm (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); 50–85 g (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Dark greyish bush-quail with rich buff belly and vent, whitish loral patch, faint eyebrow, and golden-buff belly and vent with heavy, blackish markings (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Male has chestnut forehead and throat (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Outermost primary equal in length to innermost, and upperparts slaty grey, diagnostic in combination. Female paler than male, with chestnut on head replaced by greyish buff, posterior underparts paler buff and less intensely marked (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Bill dark grey with paler, yellower base, irides dark brown or hazel-brown, and legs orange-red (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile browner than adult, with heavier black markings, and legs paler, more pinkish (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Race inglisi is paler and greyer than nominate, and has under- and upperparts more faintly marked with black (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Very specific habitat requirement: tall, dense grassland, especially of elephant grass, up to c. 1000 m; sometimes around swamps, or in scrub jungle (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

No information available; probably sedentary. Flies a short distance when pressed.

Seeds of grasses and herbs, pods and some insects. Reported to feed in coveys of 5–8 individuals (historically up to 12), which are usually most active early and late in day, and sometimes emerge from dense cover to feed in open, especially on areas of burnt grassland (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Few data. Both sexes give clear, whistled “whit-it-it-t-t”, with notes becoming higher, louder and running together (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Only one nest reported (manipurensis), which contained four white (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) eggs in a hollow scraped in ground among grass roots in May; on grassy plateau surrounded by forest (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Adults (inglisi) show signs of breeding in early Mar, although a fully-fledged chick young was collected in Jan (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

ENDANGERED. Previously treated as Vulnerable. Last definite records anywhere were specimens collected prior to 1932 in Manipur Valley, although there have been several undocumented sight records from three different regions (2 Butchart, S.H.M., Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Tobias, J.A. (2005). “Lost” and poorly known birds: top targets for birders in Asia. BirdingASIA. 3: 41–49. Close ) (not all of them by ornithologists, see below). Considered threatened because of very small range (17,000 km²) and highly fragmented habitat; must be declining in numbers; population currently placed at 2500–9999 mature individuals. No recent records from Bangladesh, where few, if any, extensive areas of elephant grass remain, and those that survive are flooded for two-thirds of the year; species may, however, still occur in Chittagong Hill Tracts. During late 1940s, it was thought that species might yet prove to inhabit the Chindwin Valley of Myanmar, but this remains a mere possibility. Species occurs in Assam Plains Endemic Bird Area, where apparently rediscovered in Manas National Park, C Assam, in 2006, and a pair was also reported in Dibru-Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuary, India, in Mar 1998, with reports by local people at Thoubal and Loktak, Manipur, in Nov–Dec 2000 (2 Butchart, S.H.M., Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Tobias, J.A. (2005). “Lost” and poorly known birds: top targets for birders in Asia. BirdingASIA. 3: 41–49. Close ). No recent from records from Nagaland (3 Choudhury, A. (2001). Some bird records from Nagaland, north-east India. Forktail 17:91–103. Close ) and not recorded in Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, in early 1990s, in which region the species was recorded in 1920s (4 Allen, D., J. Anderton, and K. Kazmierczak (1996). Report on an ornithological visit to Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, 17 February to 6 March 1992. Forktail 12:31–48. Close ). Threatened by continuing loss and fragmentation of habitat, inappropriate fire regimes, and some overhunting. An extensive survey is clearly required, concentrating on all known localities, past and present.