The spot-bellied bobwhite (''Colinus leucopogon'') is a ground-dwelling

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the

New World quail The New World quail are small birds only distantly related to the Old World quail, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family, the Odontophoridae, whereas Old World quail are in the pheasant f ...

family. It is sometimes considered to be conspecific with the

crested bobwhite The crested bobwhite (''Colinus cristatus'') is a species of bird in the family Odontophoridae. It is found in northern South America, extending through Panama to just reach Costa Rica. It also occurs on Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Its na ...

, ''Colinus cristatus''. As the latter species expands north into

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, it is likely that the two species will overlap in range in the future, but the Costa Rican

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the spot-bellied is the least similar to the crested. The spot-bellied bobwhite is found in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

and Costa Rica in open

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

with bushes and trees and other open woodland.

Description

This species is 22–24 cm long and shows geographically variable male plumage amongst its six subspecies. All forms have a brown back with black spotting on the nape. The head has a white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

, a dark line through the eye, a white or brown throat and a short crest. The lower belly is spotted but the rest of the underparts are pale, entirely spotted, or spotted with a rufous chest depending on the subspecies. The male weighs 140 g on average. The female is duller than the male with a buff supercilium and mottled throat; her average weight is 115 g. The song, most often given by males in spring and summer, is a rising, scratchy, ''bob-Wight!'' or ''bob-bob-White!''.

Taxonomy

There are six recognized subspecies. The subspecies in northwestern Honduras is known as ''Colinus leucopogon leylandi'' (Moore, 1859). The

holotype specimen A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

of "''Ortyx leylandi''
MooreProc. Zool. Soc. London, 1859, p.62.
is held in the collections of

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

World Museum World Museum is a large museum in Liverpool, England which has extensive collections covering archaeology, ethnology and the natural and physical sciences. Special attractions include the Natural History Centre and a planetarium. Entry to the ...

, with accession number 1989.66.19. The specimen was collected from "Flores, on the road from

Omoa Omoa is a town, with a population of 7,020 (2013 census), and a municipality in the Department of Cortés in Honduras. Omoa is located on a small bay of the same name 18 km west of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea coast. Geography ...

to Comayagua", Honduras, and purchased for the museum from Mr. Leyland on 9 November 1857.

Behaviour

The spot-bellied bobwhite forms "coveys", groups of three to 15 birds during the non-breeding season. Both males and females incubate nests, with most nests predominantly incubated by females. About 10 white eggs are laid. The chicks are

precocial In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...

and will leave the nest few hours after hatching. This shy species feeds on seeds and insects, the latter especially during the breeding season. It is most active in the early morning and evening.

References

* Madge and McGowan, ''Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q1944830

spot-bellied bobwhite The spot-bellied bobwhite (''Colinus leucopogon'') is a ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It is sometimes considered to be conspecific with the crested bobwhite, ''Colinus cristatus''. As the latter species expands north into ...

Birds of Costa Rica Birds of El Salvador Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua