Rock Bush-Quail

SCI Name:  Perdicula argoondah
Protonym:  Coturnix Argoondah Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt2 no.23 p.153
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Phasianidae / Perdicula
Taxonomy Code:  robqua1
Type Locality:  Deccan.
Author:  Sykes
Publish Year:  1832
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PERDICULA
(Phasianidae; Ϯ Jungle Bush Quail P. asiatica) Mod. L. (1677)  perdicula  little partridge  < dim. L. perdix, perdicis  partridge; "GUNGA's No. 6, is rare with us, as it is to the westward. It is not a quail proper, nor yet a partridge, but a compound of the two, having the wing and spur of the latter, and the size and form of the former; and its habits and manners are correspondently osculant. Those who love to trace the links by which nature connects all her works, will perhaps recognise the propriety of my separation of this species, under the generic appellation of perdicula, or the little partridge, with the trivial or specific name of Rubicola that is, Bush-loving.  Tetraonidæ, Perdicinæ, Genus or Subgenus, Perdicula nobis.   INDICATION OF THE GENERIC CHARACTER.  Size and aspect of Coturnix; bill stronger and more compressed, higher than broad at the base, with the ridge somewhat flattened. Wings firm, gradated, but less so than in Perdix; all the primes, except the 1st, strongly sinuated on the outer web; intire on the inner. Tail 127 rounded, longer and firmer than in Coturnix; Tarsi furnished with a blunt spur, common in both sexes, but smaller in the females.  Type. Bush quail of Bengal Sportsman.  Latham's Lawa partridge?  Coturnix Argoonda, Sykes?  Found chiefly in the Subhemalayan valleys and their neighbourhood: Migratory: much less abounding than the common quail; bush haunting, in small coveys. Flight short and very noisy, general habits assimilating somewhat with those of the Turnixes." (Hodgson 1837) (OD per Martin Schneider); "Perdicula, Hodgson, Bengal Sport. Mag., 9, 1837, p. 344. Type, by original designation, Perdicula rubicola Hodgson = Perdix asiatica Latham." (Peters 1934, II, 97).
Var. Perdicola, Persicula.
Synon. Cryptoplectron, Microperdix, Microplectron, Ortygiometra, Rubicola.

argoondah
Undoubtedly an autochthonym (cf. "Coturnix Argunda.  ...  Argunda der Eingeborenen." (Pöppig 1851 (Mark Brown in litt.)); Assamese name Goondri for a bush quail); "COTURNIX ARGOONDAH.  ...  Always gregarious; frequenting only rocky places, or amidst low bushes.  The covey rises with a startling whirl.  Flight very short.  Pugnacious, and used by the natives for combat" (Sykes, 1832, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc. London, p. 153) (Perdicula).

SUBSPECIES

Rock Bush-Quail (meinertzhageni)
SCI Name: Perdicula argoondah meinertzhageni
meinertzhageni
Col. Richard Meinertzhagen (1878-1967) British Army, ornithologist, collector (syn. Anthus petrosus, syn. Certhia familiaris brittanica, syn. Chersomanes albofasciata garrula, syn. Melanocorypha bimaculata rufescens, syn. Nannus troglodytes, syn. Parus bokharensis, subsp. Prunella modularis, subsp. Smithornis capensis, syn. Tchagra senegalus cucullatus).

Rock Bush-Quail (argoondah)
SCI Name: Perdicula argoondah argoondah
argoondah
Undoubtedly an autochthonym (cf. "Coturnix Argunda.  ...  Argunda der Eingeborenen." (Pöppig 1851 (Mark Brown in litt.)); Assamese name Goondri for a bush quail); "COTURNIX ARGOONDAH.  ...  Always gregarious; frequenting only rocky places, or amidst low bushes.  The covey rises with a startling whirl.  Flight very short.  Pugnacious, and used by the natives for combat" (Sykes, 1832, Proc. Comm. Zool. Soc. London, p. 153) (Perdicula).

Rock Bush-Quail (salimalii)
SCI Name: Perdicula argoondah salimalii
salimali / salimalii
Dr Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (1896-1987) Indian ornithologist (Apus, subsp. Carpodacus stoliczkae, syn. Chalcophaps indica, subsp. Cisticola juncidis, subsp. Perdicula argoondah, subsp. Ploceus megarhynchus, subsp. Pomatorhinus schisticeps, syn. Regulus regulus himalayensis, Zoothera, subsp. Zosterops palpebrosus).