Anurophasis monorthonyx
The Snow Mountain Quail, Anurophasis monorthonyx is a large, approximately 28cm long, dark brown quail of Alpine grasslands. It is the only member of the genus Anurophasis. 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.
Near-threatened.
The Snow Mountain Quail, Anurophasis monorthonyx is a large, approximately 28cm long, dark brown quail of Alpine grasslands. It is the only member of the genus Anurophasis. 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.
28 cm
Taxonomy:
- Anurophasis monorthonyx van Oort, 1910, at 3800 metres, Oranje (Snow) Mountains, New Guinea. Has been included in genus Coturnix. Monotypic. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- Kemabu Plateau, and Mt Wilhelmina and Mt Carstenz (Snow Mts), Irian Jaya, W New Guinea.
An Indonesian endemic, the Snow Mountain Quail is confined to New Guineas highest elevations, the Snow Mountains of Irian Jaya. This little known bird is protected only by the remoteness of its habitat; an inaccessible area at an altitude above 3,000 metres.
The diet consists mainly of seeds, flowers, leaves and other vegetation matters.
The female usually lays up to three pale brown, dark-spotted eggs in a hollow nest under the edge of a grass tussock.
