Yellow-legged Buttonquail

The Yellow-legged Buttonquail (Turnix tanki) is a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails. They are endemic to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

This family is peculiar in that the females are more colourful than the males and are polyandrous. Females have a bright rufous nape collar which is moulted during the non-breeding season. Females offer food to males during courtship and once the eggs are laid, the females leave incubation to the male. The eggs hatch after about 12 days (in captivity) and the chicks follow the male after hatching.