Spotted Buttonquail Turnix ocellatus Scientific name definitions

17–18 cm (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); female larger, but only mass datum is single female, 110 g (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Fairly large, brown Turnix with strongly patterned head, plain rufous breast and boldly spotted wing-coverts. Female brighter, with much more boldly marked head (black face prominently spotted white), black throat (white in male), extensive rufous breast, fewer and smaller black spots on wing-coverts, and more prominent rufous collar (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Bill horn-coloured to greenish yellow with grey base to mandible and pale yellow cutting edges; irides yellowish white; and legs orange-yellow (brighter in female) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile smaller and may have darker irides than adult (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); young male has black-spotted throat and subterminal black spots on most breast feathers, and young female has throat variably spotted white (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Geographical or possibly altitudinal variation in size: race benguetensis has slightly smaller wings and bill, but intermediate specimen known; rufous of underparts also slightly brighter and often somewhat more extensive; more white markings on sides of head.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Recorded also on Negros, but subspecies uncertain (2 Kennedy, R. S., P. C. Gonzales, E. C. Dickinson, H. C. Miranda, and T. H. Fisher (2000). A Guide to the Birds of the Philippines. Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. Close ).

---

SUBSPECIES

Turnix ocellatus benguetensis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

montane N Luzon and lowland NE Luzon (Philippines).

---

SUBSPECIES

Turnix ocellatus ocellatus Scientific name definitions

Distribution

lowland C and S Luzon (Philippines).

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.

Poorly known. Brushy grassland, dry forest sometimes with bamboo (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), ravine edges, rice fields, gardens (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and rarely open grassland; recorded from sea-level up to 2200 m.

No information available. Presumably sedentary, as inferred from isolation and possible subspeciation; no records outside normal range. Like most Turnix, flushes reluctantly, usually only when perceived threat is just 1 m away, flying a short distance before landing, then running or freezing (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

No information on diet available, but apparently forages quite frequently in grassy borders at forest edge, or on trails and dirt roads in proximity to cover, and sometimes will feed unconcernedly in close proximity to human observers (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Undescribed in the literature (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Female advertising call  is typical of genus, a low, booming “oomm” call, given up to at least eight times in series, each call lasting c. 0·5 seconds.

Season Feb (chick) and May–Aug. Female is apparently sequentially polyandrous (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Nest a depression in ground lined with leaves and concealed with sticks, sometimes placed within roots of shrub (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Clutch 2–4 greyish-white eggs densely speckled grey to purple (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). No further information available.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Formerly considered Near Threatened. No specific information available on status, but only recently (Mar 1990) recorded on Negros (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and in lowlands around Pasaleng, N Luzon (3 Nuytemans, H. (1998). Notes on Philippines birds: interesting records from northern Luzon and Batan Island. Forktail. 14: 37–40. Close ); seldom encountered by ornithologists, biology unknown. Restricted range, but apparently common, at least around Subic Bay, Luzon (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), as suggested by frequent capture; subject to certain amount of human predation.