Quail-plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii Scientific name definitions

10–13 cm; male 15·7–19·5 g (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); ­female larger. Distinctive, tiny , courser-like buttonquail  , with longer wings and tail than Turnix; shows conspicuous, diagonal, white wing flashes (in greater coverts), white-tipped black remiges (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) and also narrow pale buff tail tip. Flight is jerky, high, erratic and fluttering, like huge butterfly, and more reminiscent of Mirafra lark than any Turnix (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Female has slightly more rufous-brown breast, and more whitish in tail with dusky brown subterminal markings (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Irides pale to deep brown, bill yellowish horn to pale green and legs whitish flesh to creamy yellow (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Juvenile duller and paler (less rufous) above, appearing more spotted rather than streaked, with each feather more vermiculated and broadly edged white (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); below, has paler rufous sides of breast; wing markings less even (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Tropical Africa from S Mauritania and Senegal E to N Cameroon, S Chad and Sudan, and discontinuously through S Ethiopia, NE Uganda, N & SE Kenya and NE Tanzania; breeds in S Ghana and possibly elsewhere in W Africa.

Arid to semi-arid and coastal grassland ; also Acacia (Fabaceae) and Chrysopogon (Poaceae) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) savanna, once in Acacia–Commiphora thicket (2 Glen, R.M. (1994). Notes and new distribution records of the Quail Plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii. Scopus 18: 5129–51. Close ), and sparse scrub to dense shrubland; occurs from sea-level up to 2000 m. In Sudan, closely associated with grass Cenchrus catharticus (Poaceae); in Chad, with grass Aristida papposa (Poaceae). Breeds on ground among sparse vegetation. Does not require access to water, but sometimes recorded in wetter grasslands (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Poorly understood. Resident in some areas, elsewhere intra-African migrant, with some birds apparently breeding on coast in cool dry season; variously present only in wet season or only in dry season in some parts of range. Resident in E (Sudan, Kenya) and possibly parts of W Africa; breeding visitor to S Ghana; status unclear in Ethiopia, where recorded in Feb, Jun, Aug and Sept, but speculated to be only a migrant visitor and no evidence of breeding (3 Ash, J. S., and J. Atkins (2009). Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: An Atlas of Distribution. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Crouches in frozen posture if disturbed, or adopts slight rocking motion when either walking or standing still to avoid detection (2 Glen, R.M. (1994). Notes and new distribution records of the Quail Plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii. Scopus 18: 5129–51. Close ); flushes only reluctantly and silently at very close range; otherwise courser-like, standing erect and tall, running rapidly (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Little specific information available. Recorded taking grass seeds and insects, including termites. Terrestrial and at least partially nocturnal, at least on moonlit nights (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Little known. Egg-laying Sept–Mar, in cool dry season, but bird in breeding condition in SE Kenya in Apr (2 Glen, R.M. (1994). Notes and new distribution records of the Quail Plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii. Scopus 18: 5129–51. Close ). Solitary breeder; possibly monogamous as is often recorded in pairs, even during non-breeding season (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), although fact that male incubates is indicative of polyandry (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Nest is scrape in bare (sometimes sandy) (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) ground, lined with leaves and stalks, near base of plant, and often rimmed with small pebbles. Two cream-coloured eggs with black, brown and grey markings (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), 16·4–18 mm × 14·4–15 mm (4 Urban, E. K., C. H. Fry, and S. Keith, Editors (1986). The Birds of Africa. Volume 2. Academic Press, London, UK. Close ); incubation by male alone. No further information available.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Uncommon to locally common (e.g. three pairs along 3 km stretch of road in SE Kenya) (2 Glen, R.M. (1994). Notes and new distribution records of the Quail Plover Ortyxelos meiffrenii. Scopus 18: 5129–51. Close ); expanding range in some parts, and possibly favoured by expanding deserts. Uncommon and local in Mauritania, Burkina Faso (where only recently recorded and documented for first time) (5 Balança, G., and M. N. de Visscher (1997). Composition et évolution saisonnière d’un peuplement d’oiseaux au nord du Burkina Faso (nord-Yatenga). Malimbus 19(2):68–94. Close , 6 van den Bergh, M. (2013). New and notable bird records for Burkina Faso. Malimbus. 35(2): 57–65. Close ), Niger, Ghana (only old records and none seems certain) (7 Dowsett-Lemaire, F., and R. J. Dowsett (2014). The Birds of Ghana: An Atlas and Handbook. Tauraco Press, Liège, Belgium. Close ), Nigeria, Cameroon , Ethiopia (just five confirmed records) (3 Ash, J. S., and J. Atkins (2009). Birds of Ethiopia and Eritrea: An Atlas of Distribution. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), Uganda (only two records) (8 Carswell, M., D. Pomeroy, J. Reynolds, and H. Tushabe (2005). The Bird Atlas of Uganda. British Ornithologists’ Club and British Ornithologists' Union, Oxford, UK. Close ) and Kenya, though in last-named country perhaps reasonably common in Tsavo East National Park during 1970s (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); in Senegal, may have become less common since 1930s; locally common in Mali, Chad and Sudan, where possibly expanding range in response to desertification (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); spreading southwards in Kenya. Perhaps only a vagrant to Gambia (three recent records) (9 King, M. (2000). Noteworthy records from Ginak Island, The Gambia. Malimbus. 22(2): 77–85. Close ), Ivory Coast and Togo (1 Madge, S., and P. McGowan (2002). Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse, including Buttonquails, Sandgrouse and Allies. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). No threats currently known.