The Manipur bush quail (''Perdicula manipurensis'') is a species of

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...

found in northeastern India and Bangladesh inhabiting damp grassland, particularly stands of tall grass. It was first collected and described by

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hum ...

on an ornithological expedition to Manipur in 1881. ''P. manipurensis'' is listed as Endangered on the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

, as its habitat is small, fragmented, and rapidly shrinking. There was no confirmed sighting of the bird from 1932 until June 2006, when

Anwaruddin Choudhury Anwaruddin Choudhury, M.A., Ph.D., D.Sc., is an Indian naturalist, noted for his expertise on the fauna of North-East India. Choudhury is an ornithologist, mammalogist, artist, civil servant, photographer and author. He is recognized by many as a ...

reported spotting the quail in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

quoted the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

director of the

Wildlife Trust of India The Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is an Indian nature conservation organisation. WTI was formed in November 1969 in New Delhi, India, as a response to the rapidly deteriorating condition of wildlife in India. WTI is a registered charity in Indi ...

, Rahul Kaul, as saying, "This creature has almost literally returned from the dead."

History

A 1911 report by

Frank Finn Frank Finn FZS, MBOU (1868 – 1 October 1932) was an English ornithologist. Finn was born in Maidstone and educated at Maidstone Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford. He went on a collecting expedition to East Africa in 1892, and ...

, based on Captain Wood's field notes of 1899, noted that the species was common in the past. Wood noted that the bird was commonly trapped by Manipur people after bush fires and that the local name was ''lanz-soibol'' meaning "trap quail".

Gallery

Stamp of India - 2006 - Colnect 158988 - Manipur Bush Quail Perdicula manipurensis.jpeg

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1315912

Manipur bush quail The Manipur bush quail (''Perdicula manipurensis'') is a species of quail found in northeastern India and Bangladesh inhabiting damp grassland, particularly stands of tall grass. It was first collected and described by Allan Octavian Hume on an o ...

Birds of Northeast India