Snow Mountain quail

Snow Mountain quail
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	Synoicus
Species:	S. monorthonyx
Binomial name
Synoicus monorthonyx (van Oort, 1910)
Synonyms
Anurophasis monorthonyx van Oort, 1910

The Snow Mountain quail (Synoicus monorthonyx), is a large, approximately 28 cm (11 in) long, dark brown quail of alpine grasslands. It was formerly considered the only member of the genus Anurophasis, but phylogenetic analysis places it as the sister species to the brown quail (S. ypsilophorus) in the genus Synoicus.^[2] It has a brown plumage, a horn-coloured bill, yellow legs and a brown iris. The underparts of the female are whitish and more heavily black barred than in the male.

Snow mountain quail chick

An Indonesian and New Guinean endemic, the Snow Mountain quail is confined to Western New Guinea's highest elevations, the Snow and Star Mountains. This little known bird is protected only by the remoteness of its habitat, a mostly inaccessible area at altitudes of 3,000–4,200 m (9,800–13,800 ft).^[1]

The female usually lays up to three pale brown, dark-spotted eggs in a hollow nest under the edge of a grass tussock. The diet consists mainly of seeds, flowers, leaves, and other vegetable matter.

Due to its limited range, parts of which are getting increasingly accessible, the Snow Mountain quail is evaluated as "near threatened" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• Red Data Book