The white-necklaced partridge (''Arborophila gingica''), also known as the collared partridge or Rickett's hill-partridge, is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to southeastern China. It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and hunting, and the IUCN has assessed it as near-threatened.

Taxonomy

The white-necklaced partridge was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the other partridge like birds in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

'' Tetrao'' and coined the binomial name ''Tetrao gingicus''. Gmelin based his description "La perdrix de Gingi" that had been described by the French naturalist

Pierre Sonnerat Pierre Sonnerat (18 August 1748 – 31 March 1814) was a French naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and explorer. He described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in the genus ''Sonneratia'' and in other ...

's in 1782 in his ''Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine''. Gmelin specified the type locality as "Gingi in Coromandel". This is an error, the species is found in southeast China. The white-necklaced partridge is now one of around twenty species placed in the genus ''

Arborophila ''Arborophila'' is a bird genus in the family Phasianidae. The genus has the second most members within the Galliformes after ''Pternistis'', although ''Arborophila'' species vary very little in bodily proportions with different species varying ...

'' that was introduced in 1837 by

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Hima ...

. The genus name combines the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''arbor'', ''arboris'' meaning "tree" with the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''philos'' meaning "-loving". The specific epithet ''gingicus'' is from the toponym "Gingi". Two subspecies are recognised: * ''A. g. gingica'' (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – southeast China * ''A. g. guangxiensis'' Zhou, F & Jiang, AW, 2008 – Guangxi (south-central China)

Description

The white-necklaced partridge is long and weighs about . The adult's forehead is white (in the nominate subspecies), and there is a long supercilium. The neck-sides and throat are orange-rufous. There are a black

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the th ...

and a white band above the chestnut upper chest. The underparts are dark grey, changing to whitish on the belly. The nape and back are reddish-brown, with black spots. The rump is olive-brown and has black spots. The wings range from greyish to buffy-brown. The female is like the male but smaller. The short beak is grey, the eyes are brown, and the legs are red. The juvenile bird has a duller breast.

Distribution and habitat

The white-necklaced partridge is endemic to southeastern China, in

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

and Guangxi. It lives in forests, bamboo and scrub at elevations of .

Behaviour

This partridge occurs in the undergrowth during the day and roosts in trees. It eats seeds, berries and insects. The territorial call is a repeated plaintive whistle, including ''wooop'' and . It mostly calls in the early morning and the evening. It breeds from April to May, laying a clutch of five to seven eggs.

Status

The population size is estimated at 10,000–19,999 mature birds. The species is threatened by habitat loss caused by forest clearing, construction of roads and mining. It is also hunted illegally. Because of these threats, the population is declining. The IUCN previously assessed it as vulnerable, but the species' range was later found to be larger, so it is currently assessed as a near-threatened species. A programme to breed the species in captivity began at

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

in 1986.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q384301 white-necklaced partridge Birds of South China Endemic birds of China white-necklaced partridge white-necklaced partridge Taxonomy articles created by Polbot