Animalia Life

Turnix sylvatica
SUBFAMILY
Turnicinae
TAXONOMY
Tetrao sylvaticus Desfontaines, 1787, near Algiers. Most closely related to red-backed buttonquail (Turnix maculosa) of Australasia. Nine subspecies recognized.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Striped, small, little, or Kurrichane buttonquail, Andalusian hemipode, bustard quail; French: Turnix d’Andalousie; German: Laufhьhnchen; Spanish: Torillo Andaluz.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
5.9–6.3 in (15–16 cm); male 1.1–1.6 oz (32–44 g), female 1.4–1.9 oz (39–54 g). Small buttonquail, mostly chestnut with reddish breast and shoulders, scalloped back and wings, spotted flanks, pale eyes, and slender blue-gray bill. Female slightly larger, darker, and more brightly colored. Juvenile smaller and more heavily spotted, with dark eyes. Red-backed buttonquail similar but darker and has yellow bill and legs.
DISTRIBUTION
One subspecies in southwestern Spain and northwestern African coast; one subspecies in sub-Saharan Africa; two subspecies in southern and Southeast Asia; four subspecies in Philippine archipelago; one subspecies in Indonesia.
HABITAT
Scrub, thickets, grassland, and farmland.
BEHAVIOR
Terrestrial, diurnal, and partly nocturnal. Migrates at night. Territorial when breeding.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Eats seeds, especially of grasses, and invertebrates obtained by gleaning and scratching on the ground. Mostly insectivorous, or takes seeds and insects in similar proportions.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds in spring and summer in Europe, all months of the year elsewhere, though locally only during the rainy season. Females are sequentially polyandrous, but monogamous locally. Clutch usually four eggs, though up to seven. Incubation 12–15 days. Chicks can fly at 7–11 days, are independent at 18–20 days while still not fully grown, and can breed by four months of age.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Widespread and uncommon to common through most of range, although rare and declining in Europe.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Hunted for food in non-European parts of range; formerly hunted as a game bird in Europe. Established in aviculture.

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