Red Spurfowl
Encyclopedia
The Red Spurfowl is a member of the pheasant family
and is endemic
to India
. It is a bird
of forests, and is quite secretive despite its size. It has a distinctive call and is often hard to see except for a few seconds when it flushes from the undergrowth. It appears reddish and like a long-tailed partridge. The bare skin around the eye is reddish. The legs of both males and females have one or two spurs, which give them their name.
race, G. s. stewarti has all-chestnut plumage, including the head feathers. Both sexes have long feathers on the crown that can be erected into a crest.
in the genus Galloperdix. Gmelin used the name of Tetrao spadiceus and the genus position was changed by Edward Blyth
in 1844. The tail has 14 feathers and are slightly graduated. The wing is short and rounded and the red skin around the eye is brighter in the breeding season. The populations in three distribution ranges have been designated as subspecies; caurina for the populations in the Aravalli range, the south Kerala population stewarti and the nominate population of the rest of India. In colouration, the females show clinal variation becoming darker towards the south of their range.
.
The calls include a distinct ker-wick...kerwick... and harsh karr...karrr... notes. The Marathi name Kokatri is echoic in origin.
The breeding season is January to June, mainly before the rains. A ground nesting bird, it lays 3-5 egg
s in a scrape. Males are monogynous but do not incubate. Males have been observed to distract attention when females with chicks are nearby.
The widespread nematode Heterakis gallinae has been recorded in the species in captivity while Ixodid
ticks have been noted in the wild. A species of helminth Lerouxinema lerouxi has been described with the Red Spurfowl as type host. Keratinophilic fungi such as Ctenomyces serratus have been noted from the species.
Phasianidae
The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, including the junglefowl , Old World Quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, and is occasionally broken up into two subfamilies, the Phasianinae, and the Perdicinae...
and is endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is a bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
of forests, and is quite secretive despite its size. It has a distinctive call and is often hard to see except for a few seconds when it flushes from the undergrowth. It appears reddish and like a long-tailed partridge. The bare skin around the eye is reddish. The legs of both males and females have one or two spurs, which give them their name.
Description
Overall reddish-brown, this large partridge-like bird has a somewhat long tail. The upper parts are brown with dark barring while the face and neck are more grey in the male. The underside is rufous with dark markings and both sexes have a red facial skin patch and red legs with one or two spurs (rarely three or four while females may have none). Downy chicks have an unmarked cinnamon brown head, a dark brown band along the back bordered by creamy stripes edged with thin lines of dark brown. The male of the distinctive KeralaKerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
race, G. s. stewarti has all-chestnut plumage, including the head feathers. Both sexes have long feathers on the crown that can be erected into a crest.
Taxonomy and systematics
This spurfowl is the type species and one of three speciesSpecies
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
in the genus Galloperdix. Gmelin used the name of Tetrao spadiceus and the genus position was changed by Edward Blyth
Edward Blyth
Edward Blyth was an English zoologist and pharmacist. He was one of the founders of zoology in India....
in 1844. The tail has 14 feathers and are slightly graduated. The wing is short and rounded and the red skin around the eye is brighter in the breeding season. The populations in three distribution ranges have been designated as subspecies; caurina for the populations in the Aravalli range, the south Kerala population stewarti and the nominate population of the rest of India. In colouration, the females show clinal variation becoming darker towards the south of their range.
Distribution and habitat
The species is found in scrub, dry and moist-deciduous forests often in hilly country. They are found south of the Ganges across India. They prefer areas with good undergrowth including those formed by the invasive LantanaLantana
Lantana is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in the Australian-Pacific region. The genus includes both...
.
Behaviour and ecology
Red Spurfowl usually forage in small parties of three to five. When walking around, the tail is sometimes held vertical as in domestic fowl. They are quite silent in the day but call in the mornings and evenings. They feed on fallen seeds, berries, molluscs and insects apart from swallowing grit to aid digestion. When flushed, the usually fly a short distance and stay in well-defined territories throughout the year. They roost in trees.The calls include a distinct ker-wick...kerwick... and harsh karr...karrr... notes. The Marathi name Kokatri is echoic in origin.
The breeding season is January to June, mainly before the rains. A ground nesting bird, it lays 3-5 egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s in a scrape. Males are monogynous but do not incubate. Males have been observed to distract attention when females with chicks are nearby.
The widespread nematode Heterakis gallinae has been recorded in the species in captivity while Ixodid
Ixodidae
Ixodidae is a family of ticks containing the hard ticks.-Description:They are distinguished from the other main family of ticks, the soft ticks by the presence of a scutum or hard shield...
ticks have been noted in the wild. A species of helminth Lerouxinema lerouxi has been described with the Red Spurfowl as type host. Keratinophilic fungi such as Ctenomyces serratus have been noted from the species.