Himalayan Quail

A mysterious bird

The Himalayan quail is one of the mysteries of avian fauna. It was last conclusively sighted, in 1876, and all subsequent search expeditions were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, many scientists believe it could have survived to this day. The IUCN still lists the bird from the pheasant family (Phasianidae) as “critically endangered”. Due to its secretive lifestyle and some alleged sightings around the small Indian town of Nainital in 2003, the International Union for Conservation of Nature assumes that a very small population might still exist.

The Himalayan—or mountain quail—a monotypic species, is known only from two locations at elevations of 1,540 to 1,840 metres and from twelve collected individuals. All of these specimens come from the western Himalayan range in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in northwest India, specifically from the regions around the towns of Masuri (Mussoorie) and Nainital, which are about 180 kilometres apart. Both places lie in the “Lesser Himalayas”, a region of the Himalayas located between the lower Shiwalik Hills and the higher, snow-covered peaks of the “Greater Himalayas”. It is characterised by mid-elevations and temperate climatic conditions.

The last record of a Himalayan quail dates back to 1876, when a single bird was shot and a second observed on the eastern slopes of the Himalayan mountain Sher ka Danda near Nainital. William Robert Ogilvie-Grant, a Scottish ornithologist, wrote in 1896 in A handbook to the game-birds:

“This is still one of the least known Indian game birds; the total number of recorded specimens amounts to less than a dozen. As far as I know, no further specimens have been found since the bird shot by Major Carwithen near Nainital in 1876.”

A handbook to the game-birds. 1896, pp. 213–214. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant.

The British zoologist John Edward Gray described the Himalayan quail in 1846 based on living specimens from the collection of the then Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall, England. He gave “India” as the location, but was not sure. Only in 1865 were Himalayan quails first sighted in the wild: a man named Kenneth Mackinnon came across a pair in November at an altitude of 1,800 metres near Mussoorie. In 1867 and 1868, more birds were shot in roughly the same area. It was now certain that this quail species is endemic to India.

Himalayan quail – fact sheet

alternative names	Mountain quail, Himalayan mountain quail, Indian mountain quail, eyebrowed quail, eyebrowed rollulus, slate-coloured partridge, mountain pheasant-quail, pheasant-quail, Pahari bater
scientific names	Ophrysia superciliosa, Malacortyx superciliaris, Malacortyx superciliosa, Rollulus superciliosus, Ortiga superciliosa
original range	Himalayan Range (Northwest India)
last sighting	likely 1876
causes of extinction	unclear, likely habitat loss and hunting
IUCN status	critically endangered (very small and restricted population)

Himalayan quail: migratory bird or short-distance migrant?

Given the few collected and sighted Himalayan quails and the short period leading up to the last sighting, it is not surprising that little is known about this species’ way of life. Much of the information about this bird comes from the records of Captain J. Hutton. His observations were documented in The Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon (1879–1881) by the ornithologists Allan O. Hume and Charles H. T. Marshall.

As a contemporary witness, Hutton reported that the Himalayan quail was particularly shy, mostly staying in dense undergrowth or on steep slopes (hence the name mountain quail). It preferred dense, tall grass and was reluctant to take flight, making it difficult to detect and observe. According to Hutton, the birds could only be flushed and made to fly if one almost stepped on them or if they were startled by a dog. During their slow, low and clumsy flight, they emitted a shrill whistling note and dropped back into the grass at the next opportunity.

In 1898, the English zoologist William Thomas Blanford referred in Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma to the Himalayan quails’ long and soft plumage, which suggests that the birds are actually inhabitants of colder climatic regions. For this reason, he argued that it cannot be ruled out that the quails were only occasional visitors to the north-western Himalayas. Allan O. Hume also assumed that in spring or during the summer months the species moved northwards and to higher elevations toward higher mountains.

In his book The Game Birds of India and Asia (1911), the English ornithologist Frank Finn likewise suggested that the Himalayan quail moved northwards into higher mountain regions during the summer months. He also assumed that it was a migratory bird. However, the shape and size of the wings suggest that this species was hardly capable of covering long distances. Some clues indicate that the Himalayan quail was a short-distance migrant, moving between its breeding grounds in summer and separate wintering areas. That is, it bred in a contiguous area and then dispersed in winter to various, more widely separated areas.

In Searching for Mountain Quails (1993), the zoologists Ingo Rieger and Doris Walzthöny offered more detailed considerations regarding the Himalayan quail’s wings. They also noted that the wings are comparatively small and make up only about 35 percent of total body length—significantly less than in other quail species. For example, common quail (Coturnix coturnix) have wings that make up 60 to 65 percent of their total body length. Due to this small wing size, and consistent with earlier observations, they assume that Himalayan quails are poor fliers.

The existing museum specimens allow the species to be described well: the Himalayan quail could reach a body length of 25 centimetres, with females being slightly smaller. Males and females also differed in plumage colour. Adult males were generally darker and had a white forehead and a white supercilium. The Himalayan quail differed from other quails in its red legs and red bill. The short feet and the bill are robust. The white spots in front of and behind the eyes of the male birds also make this quail species unique.

Is the Himalayan quail not extinct after all?

Because Himalayan quails were so skilled at hiding and were hardly ever flushed, it is entirely conceivable that they could have remained undiscovered for more than a hundred years in the vast and remote mountain region of north-west India.

Records of the Himalayan quail are sparse: the last specimens were sighted in 1876, and since then there have been no confirmed records. A study from 2010 estimates that the Himalayan quail may have gone extinct in the late 1890s—only about 20 years after the last sightings.

However, there are some unconfirmed sightings that raise hopes of a small surviving population. Himalayan quails may have been seen in Suwakholi in 1984 and in Nainital in 2003. In 2010, a hunter is also said to have seen a female Himalayan quail, according to the IUCN. These sightings do in fact describe galliform birds resembling Himalayan quails, so a small remnant population in remote regions of the lower or middle Himalayas cannot be ruled out.

In a study published in 2015, researchers led by Jonathan C. Dunn of Newcastle University investigated potential habitats where the Himalayan quail might still exist. They found that the birds’ historical localities likely no longer reflect their current habitat preferences, as these areas have undergone extensive changes. Expeditions searching for the missing species must therefore be targeted at the most suitable areas.

By using two similar species with similar habitat requirements—the cheer pheasant (Catreus wallichii) and the Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus)—as surrogates and modelling climate, topography and land cover, Dunn and his team were able to identify potential habitats for the Himalayan quail. They designated 923 km² around Mussoorie in northern India as suitable areas for further surveys and compiled a list of priority expedition targets. The results also suggest that the former localities of Mussoorie and Nainital may no longer be suitable habitats for the Himalayan quail today. Now someone just has to go and look for it…

Explanations for the distribution and disappearance of Himalayan quails

In their study (1993), Rieger and Walzthöny asked why Himalayan quails were shot at only two locations 180 kilometres apart. In their view, answering this question is crucial for the rediscovery of the quails. The scientists developed two models to explain how Himalayan quails came to this disjunct geographic distribution:

Model 1 – Retreat from humans

This model is based on the assumption that Himalayan quails, as a disturbance-sensitive species, react strongly to human activities and avoid them. They are also poor fliers. As the human population increased in the Lesser Himalayas, the birds retreated to higher areas less frequented by people. This restricted their habitats to a few high peaks, severely limiting their available range.

Model 2 – Shifting of vegetation belts

During the Pleistocene, vegetation belts shifted as glaciers retreated. Himalayan quails followed these belts to higher elevations as temperatures rose and glaciers withdrew. As a result, their originally large range was split into several smaller, isolated areas. Changes to their habitat at lower elevations may have pushed the quails into suboptimal, higher areas, leading to local extinctions in some regions.

Both models show that external influences pushed Himalayan quails into higher, remote areas. Future rediscovery efforts should therefore focus on higher, less accessible regions to find possible remnant populations of the lost bird. Errol Fuller supports these findings in Extinct Birds (2000) by noting that all known sightings of the bird in the western Himalayas occurred within a relatively short period of 30 years. It is possible that Himalayan quails previously lived in an even more remote location, but due to an unknown event they dispersed into better-studied areas and were only then discovered.

Hunting and habitat loss as possible causes of extinction

The exact reasons for the Himalayan quail’s extinction are unknown. Some authors suspect that environmental changes led to the species’ eradication, while others consider hunting and habitat loss the main causes.

The last record of the species—about 60 years before India’s independence from British colonial rule in 1947—suggests that intensive hunting during the colonial period may have contributed to its decline. At that time, hunting—especially by British colonialists and their followers—was a common leisure activity and sport.

However, Dieter Luther wrote in Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt (1986) that “the species, as feathered game, was not subjected to greater persecution” than other birds living there, and that “human actions as a possible cause should be ruled out”. The contemporary Mackinnon likewise reported that hunting a Himalayan quail “involved an immense deal of bother in shooting” and that the bird “proved poor eating”.

Unlike the 19th or early 20th century, the areas around Mussoorie and Nainital today have a high and increasing population density. This typically leads to deforestation, changes in land use, and increased pollution. The destruction of natural habitats in favour of agriculture has certainly contributed to the species’ disappearance. Overgrazing by livestock has significantly impacted grassy slopes today. Limestone mining and the associated disturbances could also have been factors in the species’ decline.

The story of the Himalayan quail strongly resembles that of the pink-headed duck, which was last recorded in 1949. Both species inhabit remote, hard-to-access areas in South Asia and may have been severely decimated by intensive hunting as well as the loss of their natural habitat. Despite decades without confirmed sightings, there are ongoing efforts to rediscover both species through targeted expeditions and modern monitoring techniques.