The Jungle Bush Quail is a species of quail found in Indian Subcontinent, ranging across India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Very different from the female, the male Jungle Bush Quail has a white moustache, heavily barred white underparts, and variegated wings. The female has a uniform, rich chestnut breast and belly. However, both the male and the female have red and white streaks on the head.
The diet of the Jungle Bush Quail consists mainly of seeds. particularly of grasses, although it also takes insects. Breeding takes place after the rains and lasts until the onset of colder weather, with the precise period varying across the range; five or six eggs are produced and incubation takes between 16 and 18 days. The species is not globally threatened as it has an extensive range and tends to avoid agricultural areas. The population in Sri Lanka has contracted since the 1950s, but is thought to be widespread and common elsewhere in the range.
The Jungle Bush-Quail is largely sedentary, although the birds in Nepal are thought to migrate in winter.
Famous quotes containing the words jungle, bush and/or quail:
“We’re headed for collapse, if you want my opinion, Missy. I can see it in the fallin’ off of the quality of vagrants. There was a time you could find real good company in almost any jungle you’d pick, men who could talk, men who’d read a book now and then; and now, what do you find, a lot of dirty little guttersnipes no decent tramp would want to associate with.
Well, it’s been that way all through history.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“I want a kinder, gentler nation.”
—George Bush (b. 1924)
“Kansas City is lost; I am here!”
—A. Edward Sullivan. Professor Quail (W.C. Fields)