Crested Partridge Rollulus rouloul Scientific name definitions

c. 26 cm; male 225–300 g, female 225–275 g (1 McGowan, P. (1998). Weights of some birds from the Malaysian forest floor. Forktail. 14: 78. Close ). Unmistakable , with spectacular reddish crest , all-dark plumage and bright red bare parts. Female very different from male , but equally distinctive, with most of plumage green and head gray. Immature resembles the female, but is more mottled above; immature male has grayish belly.

SW Thailand and S Myanmar (S Tenasserim) S through Peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra (and some smaller inshore islands) and Borneo.

Evergreen forest , including lowland and hill dipterocarp, riverine alluvial, peat-swamp and logged forests (2 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ), mainly in plains and foothills, but in places up to 1300 m (2 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ) or even 1550 m in Peninsular Malaysia (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Roosts in saplings in understorey (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Seeds, large fruits (especially figs) (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ), large beetles, wood ants (e.g. Camponotus gigas) (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ) and small molluscs. Association with wild pigs reported, whereby the birds can feed on discarded fragments of fruit which they would be unable to tackle whole. Observed in groups of up to 13 individuals (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Song a series of 5–10 drawn-out (and somewhat bisyllabic) whistles “see-eeeeeuw” or “su-il”, each c. 1·3 seconds long, repeated steadily and heard mainly at dawn.

Laying in most months in Peninsular Malaysia: Dec and Apr in Perak; Feb and Jul in Pahang; Oct in Negri Sembilan; and chicks in Feb–May in Perak, and Sept in Selangor; Borneo, eggs Feb and Mar, and chicks Jun, Nov and Dec (2 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ). Nest is simply a depression in dry leaves, c. 15–20 cm in diameter and 2–3 cm deep, constructed mainly by male (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ). Lays 5–6 eggs (occasionally four), matt white, size 35·6–39·1 mm × 30·5–32 mm, laid at up to three-day intervals (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubation (in captivity) 18–19 days, by female alone, commencing with last egg (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); downy young mahogany-brown, paler below, with darker streak on nape and yellowish ear-coverts, iris black, bill brown and feet pinkish, tended by both adults (3 Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula. Volume 1. Non-passerines. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ).

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Mace Lande: Vulnerable. Known from a total of 87 localities (4 McGowan, P., M. Gillman, and M. Dodd (1998). Assessing the status of poorly known species: lessons from partridges and pheasants of Southeast Asia. Biological Conservation 83(1):1–7. Close ). Formerly widespread but now scarce in Thailand, with apparently no records there for c. 10 years; not uncommon in extreme S Myanmar in 1940s. Few recent records from Indonesia, although may still be widespread in lowlands, a severely threatened habitat throughout the entire region; in Sumatra, common at Ketambe (Gunung Leuser National Park) (5 Buij, R., E. A. Fox, and S. A. Wich (2006). Birds of Gunung Leuser National Park, northern Sumatra. Kukila 13:23–47. Close ) and at Way Kambas; one record at Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan, where also recorded in Gunung Palung National Park (2 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ); possibly endangered or extinct on Bangka I and Belitung I (both off SE Sumatra), but present in Kerinci Seblat National Park (WC Sumatra) (6 Dinata, Y., Nugroho, A., Achmad Haidir, I. and Linkie, M. (2008). Camera trapping rare and threatened avifauna in west-central Sumatra. Bird Conservation International. 18(1): 30–37. Close ). Presumed to be declining because of logging in several areas, e.g. Peninsular Malaysia; considered vulnerable because of pace of habitat loss and assumed consequent decline in distribution of what was once a widespread species. Reported from several protected areas in three different countries: Khao Pra Bang Khram and Khlong Nakha in Thailand; Taman Negara, Similajau (2 Mann, C. F. (2008). The Birds of Borneo: An Annotated Checklist. B.O.U. Checklist 23. British Ornithologists’ Union, and British Ornithologists’ Club, Peterborough. Close ) and Gunung Mulu National Parks in Malaysia; and Gunung Leuser and Tanjung Puting National Parks, and Way Kambas National Park, in Indonesia. Not protected by Indonesian law. CITES III in Malaysia.