Turnix whiteheadi Grant, Hand-Book Game Bds. (1896), 2, 276;
Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 5, 493; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1,
48; McGregor, Bull. Philippine Mus. (1904), 4, 7, pl. I, fig. 2;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 8.
Luzon (Whitehead, McGregor).
Adult male.--General color above black, finely vermiculated with gray
and dull reddish brown or with dull chestnut; crown mostly black with
dull chestnut tips to the feathers; a distinct median line of buff
from bill to neck; many feathers on back edged with buff or whitish
buff; forehead and whole side of face pale buff, most of the feathers
black tipped; chin, upper throat, and abdomen white; breast dark buff;
a few black spots on sides of breast; a few feathers on sides, under
wings, dull chestnut; quills brown with light edges; long alula-quill
edged with white; coverts largely ochraceous-buff or dull chestnut
and more or less marked with large black spots; long scapulars
broadly edged with ochraceous-buff or pale yellow-buff. Iris white;
upper mandible dark horn; lower mandible dull blue; legs and nails
flesh-colored. Length, about 120; wing, 56.5 to 61; tail, 16.5 to 28;
culmen, 9 to 10; tarsus, 16.5 to 18.
Adult female.--Differs from the adult male in having median crown-line
and sides of face pale straw or whitish; a narrow collar of dull
chestnut; above generally darker and marked with a greater amount of
dull chestnut. Wing, 60 to 64; tail, 18 to 22; culmen, 9.5 to 11.5;
tarsus, 17 to 18.
Young.--Immature birds are similar to adults but have the breast
white, streaked with dark brown; upper parts more uniformly and less
richly colored.
Eggs.--White with numerous, obscure, lilac markings; around the larger
end a band of dark sienna; larger end covered to middle of egg with a
wash of dark brown; edge of this color-area well-defined and slightly
irregular; smaller end of egg with a few small specks and a faint brown
wash. Two eggs measure respectively 20 by 16 and 20 by 16.5. Another
egg, measuring 20.6 by 16.2, is white, speckled with brown and has
nearly one-half the surface, at the larger end, covered with dark
vandyke-brown. Eggs are deposited in August so far as known.
The only known specimens of Whitehead's button quail were purchased
in the Quinta Market, Manila. It is said that they are trapped in
the vicinity of Parañaque, some 7 kilometers from Manila.