Jungle Bush Quail

The jungle bush quail is a small quail, 15–18cm long and 57–82g in weight, with clear differences between the sexes. Males have brown upperparts marked with buff and blackish blotches, whitish underparts barred in black, a largely dark reddish-brown face and a buffy-white moustache. Females share the pattern but have pinkish-brown underparts, plainer wings and a duller moustache. Five subspecies are recognised, differing mainly in how dark or sandy the upperparts are (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in dry country with shrubby or rocky cover and feeds on seeds and small insects, usually in groups of 6 to 25 birds. Breeding begins at the end of the rains and runs into the cold season, with timing varying across the range. The nest is a shallow scrape in cover, and the 4–8 eggs are incubated by the female alone. SoIB 2023 treats it as endemic to the Indian subcontinent and resident in India, estimates a long-term decline of about 45% with a stable current trend, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).