Red spurfowl
{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Red spurfowl
| image = RED SPURFOWL NHOLE.png
| image2 =Red Spurfowl - Galloperdix spadicea spadicea.ogg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Galloperdix
| species = spadicea
| authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
| synonyms =
}}
The red spurfowl (Galloperdix spadicea) 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.
Taxonomy
The red spurfowl was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the grouse like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao spadiceus.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=759 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25750137 }} Gmelin based his description on Pierre Sonnerat's "La perdrix rouge de Madagascar".{{ cite book | last=Sonnerat | first=Pierre | author-link=Pierre Sonnerat | date=1782 | title=Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine, fait par ordre du Roi, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781 | volume=2 | language=French | location=Paris | publisher=Chez l'Auteur | page=169 | url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k15182388/f228.item }} Gmelin specified the type locality as Madagascar. This is an error, the species is found in India.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=106 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482919 }} The red spurfowl is now placed with painted spurfowl and the Sri Lanka spurfowl in the genus Galloperdix that was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth.{{ cite journal | last=Blyth | first=Edward | author-link=Edward Blyth | year=1845 | title=On the Leiotrichane Birds of the Subhemalayas by B.H. Hodgson, Esq.: with some additions and annotations, — a Synopsis of the Indian Pari, — and of the Indian Fringillidae, By E. Blyth | journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal | volume=13, Part 2 | issue=156 | pages=933-944 [936 note] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40126029 }} Although the title page is dated 1844, the article was not published until 1845.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Pheasants, partridges, francolins | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/pheasants/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=25 November 2021}} The genus name combines the Latin word gallus for a "farmyard cock" with perdix meaning "partridge". The specific epithet spadicea is from Latin spadix, spadicis meaning "chestnut-coloured" or "date-coloured".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n170/mode/1up 170], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n360/mode/1up 360]}}
Three subspecies are recognised:
- G. s. spadicea (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – west Nepal and north, central India
- G. s. caurina Blanford, 1898 – Aravalli red spurfowl. Aravalli Range of southern Rajasthan (west India)
- G. s. stewarti Baker, ECS, 1919 – central, south Kerala (south India)
In colouration, the females show clinal variation becoming darker towards the south of their range.{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen PC |author2=JC Anderton |name-list-style=amp |year=2005|title=Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions|page=128}} The name used in Marathi was recorded as Kokee-tree and is probably onomatopoeic.{{cite journal|author= Baker, EC Stuart |year=1920| title= The game birds of India, Burma and Ceylon, Part 29|journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=27| issue=1|pages=1–24|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30358629}}
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{{cite journal|author=Sharpe, CF |year=1895| title=The spurs of the red spurfowl|journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=9| issue=4|page=487|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30888036}} while females may have none{{cite book|pages=106–108|title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume 4|author=Blanford WT|year=1898|publisher=Taylor and Francis, London|url=https://archive.org/stream/birdsindia04oaterich#page/106/mode/1up/}}). 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.{{cite journal|author=Abdulali, Humayun |year=1968| title=The chick of the Red Spurfowl Galloperdix spadicea (Gmelin)|journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume=65|issue=3|pages=774–775|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48068341}} The male of the distinctive Kerala 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.{{cite journal|author=Abdulali, Humayun |year=1952|title=An unrecorded feature of Spurfowl (Galloperdix)|journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=50|issue=3|pages=661–662|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48057266}}
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 Lantana.{{cite book|author1=Ali, S |author2=SD Ripley |name-list-style=amp | year=1980|title=Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 2|edition=2nd|publisher=Oxford University Press| pages=66–69}}
Behaviour and ecology
File:Red Spurfowl imitation by racket-tailed drongo.oga ]]
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, mollusks 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 eggs in a scrape. Males are monogynous which usually indicates greater male investment in parental duties but they do not incubate. Males have been observed to distract the attention of predators when females with chicks are nearby.{{cite journal|author=Tehsin, Raza H |year=1986|title=Red Spurfowl (Galloperdix spadicea caurina)|journal=J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.|volume=83|issue=3|page=663|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48772067}}
The widespread nematode Heterakis gallinae has been recorded in the species in captivity{{cite book|author=Baylis HA|year=1936|title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Nematoda. Volume 1|publisher=Taylor and Francis, London|pages=112–113|url=https://archive.org/stream/BaylisNematoda1#page/n147/mode/1up/}} while Ixodid ticks have been noted in the wild.{{cite journal|vauthors=Rajagopalan PK, Sreenivasan MA, Anderson CR |title=Ixodid ticks of red spurfowls (Galloperdix spadicea spadicea) in the KFD area, Karnataka State|journal= Indian Journal of Medical Research|year=1978 |volume=68|pages=949–953|pmid=220191}} A species of helminth Lerouxinema lerouxi has been described with the red spurfowl as type host.{{cite journal|author=Singh, SN|year=1949|title=Studies on the Helminth Parasites of Birds in Hyderabad State. Nematoda IV|journal= Journal of Helminthology|volume=23|issue=1–2|pages=39–56| doi=10.1017/S0022149X00032363|s2cid=250259567 }} Keratinophilic fungi such as Ctenomyces serratus have been noted from the species.{{cite journal|author=Pugh GJF|title=Fungi on birds in India| journal=J. Indian Bot. Soc.|volume=45|year=1966|pages=296–303}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Galloperdix spadicea}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1269712}}