Arborophila rufipectus

The male Sichuan Mountain Partridge is 29-32 cm long and weighs 350-470 grams. The forehead is white and the top of the head is chestnut brown. The eyebrow lines and cheeks are black, and the ear feathers are maroon. The upper body is mainly dark green, with wide black horizontal spots and irregular fine lines. The throat is white, with black vertical stripes on the upper throat. The upper chest and flanks are gray, mixed with chestnut spots. The chestnut spots on the chest are connected into a large chestnut-brown chest band. Lower chest and belly white. The tail feathers are dark green with 4-5 black horizontal spots.
The forehead base and eyebrow lines of the female bird are black with light yellow vertical stripes, and the top of the head and occiput are olive brown. The upper body is olive brown with black horizontal spots, the upper throat is light yellow with oval black end spots, and the lower throat is light ocher orange. Chest brownish gray. The belly is white. The flanks

It is a bird unique to China. Its distribution range is extremely narrow, and it has only been found in Pingshan, Ganluo, Mabian, Ebian, Muchuan and other counties in Sichuan Province, China.
It lives in evergreen broad-leaved forests between 1000-2000 meters above sea level, especially in areas with rich understory vegetation.

Sichuan Partridge, also known as Sichuan Partridge in English, has no subspecies and is a rare and endemic pheasant native to southwest China.     

Sichuan Mountain Quail often moves alone or in small groups of 5-6. It is alert and good at hiding. It runs fast on the ground. When frightened, it often stays still or runs to escape from enemies. It only takes off when it is in danger or has no choice. But it falls down after not flying far and quickly escapes in the grass, bushes or bamboo bushes. It usually digs for food in places with thick leaf litter under the forest. Its main food is oak, elaeagnus, and raspberry. It often forages on the ground during the day and spends the night on bamboo branches or bushes.

During the breeding season, the most common call of Sichuan mountain partridges in the territory is monosyllabic, which lasts for a long time; followed by disyllabic calls, which last for a medium time; and finally polysyllabic calls, which last for a short time. However, the warning call is an exception, because the duration of the warning call is related to external interference and pressure from natural enemies. Once the Sichuan Mountain Quail has determined its territory during the breeding season, the male will call in the territory to warn and protect it from interference, and to prevent individuals of the same species and those of different species that compete for resource utilization from entering the territory, thereby ensuring that there is enough space and food resources throughout the breeding season. The mating call can make it easier for the female to locate the male and increase the pairing rate. In the study, a faster-frequency mating call of the Sichuan Mountain Quail was recorded and played back in different territories, and it was found that the females approached the direction of the call. The male makes monosyllabic and disyllabic calls before and after climbing and descending from the tree, just like a male rooster.

The breeding season of Sichuan Mountain Quail is from April to June. It nests on the ground under the forest in the mountain forest between 1300-1500 meters above sea level. Most of them are at the base of the dead tree after being cut down. It is made of dead branches, leaves, bamboo leaves, etc., and is nearly spherical. It opens from the side and looks like a pile of rotten leaves. It is difficult to be found. Each nest lays 3-7 eggs, which are pure white in color, 43-48×31-34 mm in size, and weigh 23-24 grams. The female bird is mainly responsible for incubation, and the male bird is responsible for vigilance. The chicks can move with the parents soon after hatching.

Sichuan Mountain Quail is a species with a very narrow distribution area and very rare population. It is confined to the Xiaoliangshan Mountains in southern Sichuan. In Mabian County, where the largest population is found, there are less than 1,000 of them, and the typical habitat density is only about 0.01 per hectare. Human economic activities are an important factor in the endangerment of Sichuan Mountain Quail, especially excessive deforestation, which has seriously damaged its habitat. In addition, human hunting is another important factor in its decline in population.

Sichuan Mountain Quail is found in the original evergreen broad-leaved forest and secondary broad-leaved forest at an altitude of 1200-2300 meters in Mamize Nature Reserve and Changhe Forest Area. In 2005, during the patrol and monitoring of Sichuan Mountain Quail in the CI protection project, the calls of Sichuan Mountain Quail were collected many times, proving the existence of Sichuan Mountain Quail in the reserve, but it was a great pity that no live photos were taken. This discovery provides precious information for the reserve to understand the population distribution and quantity changes of Sichuan Mountain Quail, and lays the foundation for promoting the benign development of rare wild animals and plants such as Sichuan Mountain Quail and their habitats in the area.

After 2000, the logging ban issued by the Chinese government in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was fully implemented. Local forestry workers have switched to replanting trees on steep slopes where forest vegetation has been destroyed, and the greening rate has reached 25% (China Daily, January 20, 2000). A small amount of land is planted with commercial vegetation such as CRYPTOMERIA and other coniferous species, but most of the mountainous areas are planted with local broad-leaved tree species. As a result, broad-leaved secondary forests have returned to the slopes, and the number of Sichuan mountain partridges has increased in these secondary forest areas.

Listed as endangered in the "China Red List of Endangered Animals·Birds".

Listed as endangered in the "Red List of Endangered Species of the World Conservation Union" (IUCN) 2012 ver 3.1-endangered (EN).

Listed in China's "National Key Protected Wildlife List" (February 5, 2021) Level 1.

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