In 1977, Salim Ali, during his Himalayan Quail survey, noted that the habitat requirements of the species were similar to the Cheer Pheasant—steep mountain slopes, tall grass and bush made it extremely difficult to spot these small birds. Illustration of a Himalayan quail from A. O. Hume's work. They can move along the steep mountains with ease when predators are around. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. Negi reported that on a foggy morning while he was going to Nali to inspect plantations, he saw half-a-dozen birds that looked like the Himalayan Quail crossing the road near Suwakholi. Altitude 350–4,500 m. Countries and territories China (Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing, Guangxi); Last Updated: March 28, 2019 If you plan to keep only males, they should be housed in pairs. All that is known about the Himalayan Quail is from 10 specimens—seen, shot and collected between April 1836 and December 1876. Himalayan Quail. Himalayan Quail: French: Ophrysie de l'Himalaya: German: Himalajawachtel: ... habitat, diet, sounds, behavior, breeding, current population status, and conservation. It is found in the Indo-Malayan Realm and the Palearctic. compares the habitats of the Cheer Pheasant and the Himalayan Monal to shortlist the five sites where the Mountain Quail may exist. Are they all males? However, the only calls reported for it are a quail-like contact call and a shrill whistle when the bird is flushed. Antibiotics are primarily prescribed by avian vets when a quail requires them. Please turn it off in order to continue, or whitelist Mint. "I raised bobwhite a few years back and enjoyed doing it. Harkirat Sangha, another ornithologist, has a counter view: “Having travelled quite extensively in the Western Himalayas, I am inclined to believe that the species is gone as the suitable habitat is hardly there. This work identified five large areas of potentially suitable habitat in Uttarakhand, India which should be surveyed (Dunn et al . Ripley also reported the local name of the bird in Nepal as “Sano Kalo Titra", which means small black partridge. The Himalayan Quail (Ophrysia superciliosa) is presumed to be extinct since no reliable records of sightings of this species exist after 1876. Quail may hide their eggs in the litter on the bottoms of their habitats, so eggs can be difficult to find in a larger enclosure or pen. Hari Dang, a schoolteacher, reportedly shot a Himalayan Quail near the Nali forest around Mussoorie in 1955. Low-quality sweetgum averaged from 5,000 to 10,000 stems/acre, with virtually no herbaceous component. 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”. The Himalayan Quail, Ophrysia superciliosa, is a medium-sized quail belonging to the pheasant family.It was last reported in 1876 and is feared extinct. Himalayan Quail relies on flight to move around. Ryan Corrigan is a Licensed Veterinary Technician in California. Allan Octavian Hume, an ornithologist and one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, wrote about the Himalayan Quail in his book The Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon, “The bird is known to occur occasionally, and during the cold season, in the neighbourhood of Mussoorie, and again in the neighbourhood of Nainital. The February study by Dunn et al. Nainital and Mussoorie are no longer the quaint hill stations they once were. Quail should have access to game-bird mix 24/7. Himalayan Quail is one of very critically endangered species of Indian birds. There are 19 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. Their nutritional needs change as they grow and mature. “They keep habitually in coveys of six to ten, though single pairs may occur. Most of the animals found on earth are wild animals whose natural habitat is the forest. Make sure there is cover in the run. Distribution: Formerly, the species was more widely distributed along the southern Himalayan foothills but now is restricted to only a single remnant population in Manas Wildlife Sanctuary and its buffer reserves. The distribution of this bird couldn’t have been confined to Mussoorie and Nainital alone," says Brigadier (retd) Ranjit Talwar, who helped Ingo Rieger look for the Himalayan Quail in 1989. If you are keeping your quail for meat production only, less light (e.g., about 8 hours per day) is needed. Scaled Quail Photo credit: Mick Thompson. Give your quail foraging opportunities by scattering grain in their floor litter, hiding it in cored fruits or vegetables, or mixing it in with scraps of paper in their feed troughs.