Despite the name, buttonquails are unrelated to true quails. This species is rufous-brown above, rusty and buff below with blue-grey bill & legs and yellowish white eyes. Chin, throat and breast closely barred with black. Female larger and more richly coloured, with throat and middle of breast black. They lack a hind toe.

Widespread throughout most of Southeast Asia, barred buttonquails are unusual for birds in that the female is polyandrous and the brighter of the sexes, initiating courtship and building the nest. She fights with other females and puts on a display for the possession of a male. Eggs when laid are left to be incubated by the male who also tends the young, as the hen goes off to acquire another husband, though evidently only one at a time.

See also

• Tag group:Birds

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