Yellow-legged Buttonquail

About the Yellow-legged Buttonquail

The yellow-legged buttonquail (Turnix tanki) is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails. This family is peculiar in that the females are larger and more colourful than the males and are polyandrous.

The yellow-legged buttonquail is a small quail growing to a length of 15 to 18 cm (6 to 7 in), the females being slightly larger and more brightly coloured than the males. The weight is 36 to 43 g (1.3 to 1.5 oz) for the subspecies Turnix tanki tanki, and 35 to 78 g (1.2 to 2.8 oz) for the male T. t. blanfordii, while the female of this subspecies is 93 to 113 g (3.3 to 4.0 oz). The tail is short and the wings have rounded ends.

The adult male has a black crown with a buff margin, and sometimes a buff central streak. The front and side of the head are buff, the individual feathers having black tips. The throat is pale buff, darkening to reddish-buff at the edges and on the breast, and paling again on the belly, becoming white at the under tail coverts. The sides of the breast are scattered with round black spots. The nape and upper parts of the body and tail are greyish-brown, with reddish and dark brown vermiculations... Wikipedia →