Himmalayan Quail Birds

Details about Himmalayan Quail Birds :

The Himalayan Quail (Ophrysia Superciliosa) is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family. The Himalayan quail is native to India, found in Uttarakhand in north-west Himalayas. It's one of the species is " Superciliosa" and it's genus is a "Ophrysia". The Himalayan quail are the family of "Phasianidae" and the order of " Galliformes ". The last sightings recorded before 1877 were from Mussourie and Natural hill stations, suggesting that they prefer higher attitudes. This quail has long tail. The Himalayan quail scientific name is "Ophrysia Superciliosa". It's conservation status  is critically Endangered.

Description :

The red bill and legs of this small dark quail and white spots before and after the eye make it distinctive. The male is dark grey with bleak streaks and a white forehead and supercilium. The female is brownish with dark streaks and greyish brow. Like the male it has a white spot in front of the eye and a larger one behind the eye. It is believed to fly only when flushed at close quarters and was found in coveys of five or six. The habitat was steep hillsides covered by long grass.The genus name is derived from Ophrys which refers the brow.

This quail has long tail coverts and the 10 feathered tail is longer, nearly as long as the wing, than in most quails.The feathers of the forehead and bristly and stiff.

The species was described in 1846 by J. E. Gray from living specimens in the collection of the Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall, and he gave the locality as "India" with a query. These are the two syntype specimens of Rollulus superciliosa J.E.Gray and are held in the collections of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession numbers D259 (male) and D259a (female). The specimens were collected in India , were purchased from Tucker on 1st April 1836, and came to the Liverpool national collection via the 13th Earl of Derby’s collection which was bequeathed to the city of Liverpool.

It was not until 1865 that it was first found in the wild by Kenneth Mackinnon who shot a pair in November, in a hollow between Budraj and Benog, behind Mussoorie, at about 6,000 feet (1,800 m) elevation.Two years later, again in November, five specimens were obtained by a group near Jerepani (Jharipani). In December 1876, Major G. Carwithen obtained a specimen from the eastern slopes of Sher-ka-danda, close to Nainital, at an elevation of 7,000 feet (2,100 m).Frank Finn suggested that it was a migratory bird, arriving in winter, although expressing doubts on account of the short wings.The birds near Mussoorie as observed by Hutton and others occurred in small coveys of six to ten, that kept to high grass and scrub, fed on seeds of grass, were difficult to flush, and had a shrill whistling note when flushed. They appeared to arrive about November, but in one case stayed as late as June, after which they disappeared.

Habit :

The Himalayan Quail was found in long “seed grasses” on the steep slopes of hills, and was made to fly only when flushed by a dog, or trod upon. This is perhaps the only description available.

Baker (1928) thought that the Himalayan Quail occurred in groups of five to ten individuals that lived in high grass where they fed on fallen seeds and could rarely be seen. In the afternoon, they descended into sheltered hollows, sometimes occupying very steep slopes with patches of brushwood. Grant (1896) and Finn (1911) also thought that this bird occurred in coveys of six to ten, and kept close to cover in grass or brushwood. Greenway (1967) was of the opinion that the Himalayan Quail was an extremely shy and retiring bird, that inhabited steep grassy slopes and could be seen only when flushed.

The Himalayan Quail apparently preferred steep slopes with small growing vegetation; as such features allow a flushing bird to escape ground vicinity without any great navigational ability. According to Ali (1977) the Himalayan Quail inhabited long grass and was a skulker, found on steep rugged hillsides cut by wooded and/or stony valleys. He further said that most specimens were obtained during or soon after November when the grass on the open hillsides was taller and provides good cover. Ali felt that habitat requirements of these birds were very much similar to Cheer Pheasant Catreus wallichi and steep slopes, grass and bush vegetation made it difficult to find these small birds.

Kaul (1992) drew a comparison between the Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichii) and the Himalayan Quail, based on the habitat descriptions of the two species which appeared to be quite similar in literature. Kaul was of the opinion that if the habitat of the Himalayan Quail was what has been presented in the literature, then the rather limited habitat of steep and scrubby slopes, interspersed with precipitous cliffs between 1,000m and 3,000m altitude, must impose severe restrictions on the distribution of both these species. As open grassy and scrubby areas do not form large contiguous tracts in the Western Himalaya, Cheer Pheasant has always been patchily distributed across its range with populations limited by the availability of suitable habitat. If the Himalayan Quail was a bird of such specialized habitat and given that such areas are not very extant, most populations were probably small and vulnerable to “local extinctions”. In the event of identification of areas with Himalayan Quail, and if such areas have habitats similar to ones occupied by Cheer Pheasant, then there is a likelihood that it will not be very large in population.

Status :

Field investigations during mid 19th century indicated that Himalayan Quail may have been relatively common, but it was reported as rare by the late 1800s. The habitat of Himalayan Quail probably bore some similarities to the habitat of the Cheer Pheasant Catreus wallichi which is patchy, suggesting that these birds were probably never present in large numbers.

The lack of records for over a century, suggests that this species may have become extinct. The unconfirmed reports of its sighting, recent literature reviews, and field investigations, have however kept alive the hope that small populations may still survive in some areas in the lower or middle Himalayan range between Nainital and Mussorie. There has been a lack of long-term and dedicated surveys to rediscover the Himalayan Quail which makes it difficult to pronounce this species as extinct. It is likely that this species is surviving somewhere in its historical distribution range but has not been located so far for want of dedicated survey effort? Despite its “Critical” status, very few efforts have been made to locate this species within its natural range. The last field effort to locate the elusive Himalayan Quail used satellite data and geographical information system approach. However, none of these surveys were able to establish presence of any Himalayan Quail populations but made some useful pointers.

Himmalayan Quail Video :

Himmalayan Bird Quail basic information :

Kingdom : Animalia.

Phylum : Chordata.

Class : Aves.

Rank : species.

Order : Galliformes. 

Family : Phasianidae. 

Genus : Ophrysia.

Species : O. Superciliosa. 

Binomial Name : Ophrysia Superciliosa.

Length :45 cm.

Conservation status : Critically Endangered.