THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL (OPHRYSIA SUPERCILIOSA) IN THE LAST CENTURY

Abstract

ABSTRACT Onlv nine stuffed and mounted mountain quail (Ophrysia superciliosa) specimens exist. They are now in four different scientific collections. These nine specimens originate from Mussoorie and Nainital in the Lesser Western Himalayas. The two sites, above 7,500 m in altitude and separated by the Ganges valley, are 180 km apart. The split distribution is probably a consequence of the poor-(lying birds being pushed up the mountain slopes by increasing human colon-isation below. There have recently been several unsuccessful attempts to re-discover the mountain quail. We suggest that future attempts should concentrate on the mountain range north of the original Mussoorie-Nainital range, and also consider searching in Nepal.

Full text

•
•
Gibier Faune Sauvage Volume 9 Oecembre
1992
p.
585
-
590
IS
SN 0761-9243
THE DISTRIBUTION
OF
THE
MOUNTAIN
QUAIL
(OPHRYSIA SUPERCILIOSA)
IN THE LAST CENTURY
I.
RIEGER
and
D.
WAlZTHONY
Bikom
Bura
fUr integralc K
ommunikation.
Chratz
hofli
4.
CH
-8447 Dachsen,
Sw
itzerland
KEY-WOR
DS:
Mountain
quail,
Ophrysia
superciliosa,
distribution,
extinct
spe-
cies,
endangered
species.
attempt
at
re
-
discovery,
Himalaya.
ABST
RA
CT
Onlv
nine
stuffed
and
mounted
mountain
quail
(Ophrysia
superc
iliosa)
spec
-
im
e
ns
exist. They
are
now
in
four
different
scientific
collections.
These
nine
spec-
imens
originate
from
Mussoorie
and
Nainital
in
the Lesser Western Himalayas.
The
two
sites,
above
7,500 m in
altitude
and
separated
by
the Ganges valley,
are
180
km
apart
. The
split
distribution
is
probably
a
consequence
of
the
poor
-
(lying
birds
being
pushed
up
the
mountain
slopes
by
increasing
human
colon-
isation
below.
There
have
recently
been
several
unsuccessful
attempts
to re-dis-
cover
the
mountain
quail. We
suggest
that
future
attempts
should
concentrate
on
the
mountain
range
north
of
the
original
Mussoorie
-
Nainital
range,
and
also
consider
searching
in
Nepal.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Several Indian animal species
were
tho
u
gh
t
to
be
extinct
and have been
sub
-
sequently
re
-discovered. Since the 1970s, species like
the
pigmy
hog
Sus
(Por-
eu/a) sa/vanius,
the
hispid hare
Capro/agus
hispidus
and
Jerdon's
courser
Cur
-
sorius
bitorquatus,
have been
re
-
discove
r
ed
(O
LI
VER,
1980 ; ANON., 1986)
after
many
decades
of
being
considered
"most
pr
obably
ext
in
ct".
The
mountain
quail
is a species
endemic
to
the Lesser H
imalayas
. Like sev-
eral
other
animals
from
the
Indian
subcontinent,
it is believed
to
be exti
nct
.
Mountain
quails
are
known
from
areas
similar
to
the
ranges
of
pigmy
hogs
and
hispid hares. It is theoretical
ly
possible
that, like
the
latter
two
species,
moun
-
tain
quails
could
also have
survived.
To assess
the
chances
of
re-discovering
the
mou
n
ta
in quai
l,
we
visited
the
ar-
eas
where
the
birds
were
seen in
the
last cen
tury
and
examined
all
relevant
piec-
es
of
informat
ion. We present here
the
astonishing
finding
that
mountain
quai
ls
are
known
from
on
ly
two
places in the Lesser Himalayas, and discuss
the
im
-
plications
for
re
-discovery.

586
Distribution
of
the
mountain
quail
II.
RESULTS
11.1.
ONLY NINE SPECIMENS ...
Despite statements
that
a round a dozen
mountain
quail speci
mens
are
known
le.g. ALI, 1964, 1
977
; ALI and RIPLEY, 1
980;
GREENWAY, 1958),
we
we
re able
to trace
only
nine
speci
men
s in
four
collection
s:
1 6 , 1 » :
National
Museums
and
Ga
l
ler
ies on Merseyside,
Liverpool,
U.K. ;
1 d :
Rijksmuseum
van
Natuurlijke
Historie, Leiden,
Nl.
;
3 d d, 2
99
; Natural Histo
ry
,
London
ITring), U.K. ;
1 6 :
Amer
ican
Museum
of
Natural
History,
New
York, U.S.A.
The Leiden specimen,
not
mentioned
in recent
mountain
qua
il li
teratur
e,
prompted
BONAPARTE (1856) to
introduce
the
new
generic term Ophrysia
now
used
for
this species.
11
.2
....
SHOT WITHIN 40 YEARS IN THE LAST CENTURY
The
nine
mountain
quail speci
mens
were
shot
in the
short
period
of
40
years
between 1836 and 1876.
11.3
....
FROM ONLY
TWO
PLACES IN THE LESSER WESTERN
HIMA·
LAYAS
The nine specimens
originate
from
only
two
places in the Lesser Western
Him
-
alayas :
eight
specimens
were
shot
near
Mussoorie
,
one
near
Naini
tal. These
two
places are separated
by
a distance
of
some
180 km.
No reasons are advanced in the
literature
for
the
split
distribution
of
the
moun
-
tain quail. But
understanding
why
mountain
Quails
were
found
in
only
two
plac-
es,
180 km apart, is
important
for
planning
future
attempts
at
re
-
discovering
the
.
species.
It is relatively easy to
find
characteristics
common
to
both
ar
eas:
-
While
visiting
the
Mussoorie
and Nainital areas,
it
seemed
to
us
that
the
peaks and hills close to these
two
hill stations
were
higher
than the peaks and
hills
further
away
. The
two
places are situated at the
highest
elevations
of
their
respective ridge
s.
-
Mussoori
e was
founded
by
Captain YOUNG in 1827,
when
he sited a
mil
-
itary
camp
in
Landour
(275 m above Mussoorie) and
built
on the present-day
location
of
the
Mulligar
Hotel. Before, the
Mussoorie
area was i
nhabited
only
by a
few
f
armers
(ANON., 1989b). Nainital
developed
in a
similar
way:
an Eng-
lish businessman, Mr.
P.
BARRON, came to Nainital on a
hunting
journey
in
1839. Three years later, he
built
the first
bungalows
there
(ANON., 1989a).
-Mussoorie and
Nainital
are
both
on
top
of
the
most
southerly
range
of
the
Lesser Western Himalayas
that
exceeds 2,000
m.
Mountain
quail
were
shot
at
altitudes between 1,675 and 2,1
00
m
above
sea level. The Ganges river cross-
es this
mountain
ridge between
Mussoorie
and Nainital in a
deep
gorge
-like val-
ley near Rishikesh, at
an
altitude
of
around
400 m above sea level (CROWTHER
et
al
..
1987).
III. DISCUSSION:
WHY
A SPLIT DISTRIBUTION?
We
prop
o
se
a
model
that
explains
the
distrib
u
tio
n
of
the
mo
un
tain quail in
the last century.
The
model
is based on four assu
mpt
ions and agrees
with
the
topographi
c
al
characteristics
already
described.

I.
Rieger
and
O.
Walzth6ny
587
-
Assumption
1 :
mountain
quails
are bad flyers.
Sportsmen
mentioned
that
mountain
quails
were
poor
flyers (In HUME and
MARSHALL, 1879-1881 ;
RIEGER
and WALZTHONY, 1990, in pressl.
Their
ob-
servation is
supported
by
the fact
that
mountain
quails have relatively small
•
wings.
-
Assumption
2 :
mountain
quails
retreated
from
human
disturbance.
HEDIGER (1961) devised the
term
"technophobia"
'''Kulturfluchter''
in Ger-
manI
to refer to
animal
species
which
could
not
tolerate technical objects. The
opposite
"technophily"
["Kulturfolger"
in
German]
translates in English
as
"commensals
of
civilization"
and refers
to
animal
species
which
have extend-
ed
their
range in the presence
of
man
(HEYMER, 1977).
In the
mountain
quail
area,
human
pressure increased in parallel at
Mussoo-
rie and
at
Nainital :
Mussoorie
:
1827: Captain Young
founded
Mussoorie.
Before, the
hill-folk
lived
in
small
villages scattered
over
the hills (ANON., 1989b). Today,
Mussoorie
has
some
20,000
inhabitants
(CROWTHER
et
al., 1987).
1836-
1870:
The
first
mountain
quail was
shot
around
Mussoorie
in 1836, the
last one in 1870.
Nainital:
1839:
Mr.
P.
BARRON came
to
Nainital
while
hunting.
In 1842, he
built
the
first dozen
bungalows
which
became the nucleus
of
the
future
summer
capital
and residence
of
the
Governor
of
the
United
Provinces (ANON., 1989a). Today,
Nainital has
some
28,000
inhabitants
(CROWTHER
et
al., 19871.
1876: Near Nainital, the
only
specimen
of
mountain
quail
was
shot
in 1876.
The last
mountain
quail in
either
place
was
shot
some
40
years
after
human
influence started to increase there.
HUME and MARSHALL (1879-18811
drew
attention
to the
possibly
techno-
phobic
behaviour
of
mountain
quails. They
pointed
out
that
mountain
quails
were
found
around
Mussoorie
and
Nainital
only
at the
time
of
the year
when
these hill stations
were
nearly deserted.
Only one
item
in the
literature
casts
doubt
on the
techno
phobia
theory:
Cap-
tain HUTTON reported
that
from
November
1867 to
June
1868 a
covey
of
moun-
tain quails lived close to his house on
Jharipani
(HUME and MARSHALL, 1879-
1881). But
today
Jharipani
is
not
densely
inhabited
and
nothing
indicates
that
in Captain
Hutton's
time
other
people lived there besides
him
and his servants.
-
Assumption
3 : based on
assumption
1 (bad
flying
ability),
we
postulate
that the
original
distribution
of
the
mountain
quail
extended
between
the
two
known
mountain
quail sites
of
Mussoorie
and Nainital.
-
Assumption
4:
during
our
visit
to
Mussoorie
and Nainital,
we
noticed
that
the vegetation typical
of
the areas
where
mountain
quails
were
found
in the
last
century
was also present in
other
areas at
lower
altitudes. From the
point
of
view
of
vegetation alone,
we
are
convinced
that
suitable
habitat
for
moun-
tain quails occurred
at
altitudes
as
low
as 1,000 m (RIEGER and WALZTHONY,
1990;
in press).
More
data on the
current
vertical
distribution
of
vegetation
belts as
well
as on the
shifts
caused
by
climatic
changes, e.g.
during
the Pleis-
tocene, is required.

588
Distribution
of
the
mountain
Quail
IV.
CONCLUSIONS
Mussoorie
and
Nainital
are at
altitudes
of
around
2,000 m
above
sea level.
But
the
tops
of
the
Lesser
Himalayan
range
between
these
two
places
hardly
ever exceed 2,000 m and are
often
considerably
below
2,000 m. The
river
Gan-
ges has cut
through
the range and
the
riverbed
is
at
an
altitude
of
around
400 m.
Our
assumptions
and
the
topography
imply
that
mountain
quails
must
have
found
suitable
habitat
not
only
at
high
altitudes
{above 1,500
ml,
but
also at
low-
er ones
down
to
the
Ganges.
We believe
that
they
not
only
crossed
the
river
Ganges
but
also
followed
the
river
northwards.
They
would
thus
have reached
the
valley
and
ridge
in
the
Less-
er
Western
Himalayas
north
of
the
Mussoorie
range (Figure 1).
Figure 1 :
Mountain
quails
(Ophrysia
superciliosa)
are
known
from
two
places in the Less-
er
Himalayas:
Mussoorie
and
Nainital.
As
these
birds
were
bad flyers,
we
presume
that
the species'
distribution
extended
between
these
two
places.
If
th is is true,
mou
ntai n
quails
could
as
well
have
moved
to
the
Lesser
Himalayan
ridge
north
of
the
Mussoorie
-
Nainital
ridge,
either
via
the
Ganges
valley
or
by
descending
from
the
Mussoorie
-
Nainital
ridge.
Figure 1 : Les
ophrysies
de
I'Himalaya
(Ophrysia
supercifiosa)
occupaient
deux
endroits
sur
les basses pentes de
I'Himalaya
:
Mussoorie
et
Nainital.
Puisque ces
oiseaux
ont
du
mal
a
voler,
nous
supposons
que
I'espece a pu se
repandre
entre
ces
deux
endroits.
Si cela
est
vrai,
les
ophrysies
de
I'Himalaya
auraient
egalement
pu
atteindre
la crete de la
partie
basse de
I'Himalaya
au
nord
de
I'aire
de
distribution
de
Mussoorie-Nainital,
soit
en pas-
sant
par
la vallee
du
Gange
soit
en
descendant
la crete de
Mussoorie
-
Nainital.
Around
the year 1000,
Muslim
invaders
pushed
the
non-Muslim
inhabitants
of
the
Indian
plains
into
the
mountains
(ROUILLARD,
1981
; CROWTHER
et
aI.,
1987).
Human
density
in
the
Lesser
Himalayas
increased
continuously,
first
in
the
lower
and
later
in
the
higher
regions.
Mountain
quails,
presumed
techno
-
phobic,
would
have retreated. Being a bad flyer,
it
would
have had
to
retreat on
foot. The
only
escape route
not
interrupted
by
human
presence
was
towards
the
tops
of
the Lesser
Western
Himalayas.
A second
human
invasion
took
place
during
British
colonial
times.
Within
a
few
years,
the
hill stations attracted
many
temporary
and
permanent
visitors.
To
some
of
them
we
owe
the
few
mountain
quail
reports.
Mountain
quails
could

f. Rieger
and
D. Walztho
ny
589
no
longer
retreat
towards
the
mountaintops.
They
were
already
there
and pres-
s
ed
by
a dense
human
population.
Nowadays, no
mountain
quails live in these areas.
The Lesser W
es
te
rn
Himalayas north
of
the
Mussoorie-Nainital
ridge has a
s
maller
hum
an
pop
ulation de
nsity
than the
former
known
mountain
quail area.
It is possible
that
the
original
mountain
quail
distr
i
bution
included
the
valley
and the
mount
ains north
of
the
Musso
orie-
Nainital
ridge. If
mountain
quails
have s
ur
vived,
we
are convinced
that
that
is
wh
e
re
they
must
be
so
ught
.
Ano
ther
possibi
lity
is the occurrence of
mountain
quails in Nepal. RIPLEY
(1952)
mention
s a local na
me
for
mountain
quails
from
the Daile
kh
District in
Nepal
"sana
kala
titr
a",
which
means
"small
black
partridge"
IT.K. SHRESTHA,
per
s.
c
omm
.
1991
).
He
re
too is a lead
that
may
be
worth
pursuing
if
the
moun-
tain quail is to be r
e-
discovered.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We got encourage
ment,
help
and spons
or
s
hips
for
our
mountain
quail
pro
-
ject
from
various people. We express o
ur
deepest thanks to (in alphabetical or-
der) : Mr. Shahid
All
, Bo
mbay
, Indi
a:
Mr.
Ur
s
BOPP
, EFFEMS, Zug,
Swit
zer-
la
nd ; Mr.
S.
ECK, Staatliches
Mu
s
eum
fur Tierkunde, Dresden, F.
R.G.
; Mr.
Graham
C.
COW
LE
S,
B.M. IN.H.) Lo
nd
on-Tri
ng
, U.K. ; Dr
R.
GRUBH, B.N.H.S.,
B
om
ba
y, Indi
a;
Mr
.
C.
FISHER,
Nation
al
Mu
se
um
s and Galleries on
Mer
sey-
si
d
e,
li
v
erp
oo
l,
U.
K.
; Dr.
G.
MAUERSBERGER,
Museum
fur
Naturkund
e der
Hu
mb
o
ldt
-UniversiUit, E-Berlin, F.R.G. ;
Mr
. G.
F.
MEES, Rijks
mu
seum v
an
Na-
tuurlijke
Hi
storie, Leiden, Nederland ;
Mr
. Bruno
PETER
, Zurich,
Switzerland;
Mi
ss
Jeanne
PETER,
s
cientific
drawing
s, Zurich,
Switzerland;
Prof. Dr
S.
PE
-
TER
S, Forsc
hung
sins
titut
Senckenberg Mu
se
um
, Frankfurt, F.R.G.
REFERENCES
ALI
S.
(1964). -The book
of
Indian Birds. Bombay Natural Hist
ory
Society, Bombay, 158
p.
ALI
S.
0977).
-President's Letter. Hornbill,
JulySeptcmber
1977, 3-5.
ALI
S.
and
RIPLEY
S.D. (1980), -
Handboo
k of the Birds of India and
Pa
kistan, Vol.
2.
N
ew
De
lhi,
129
p.
ANON. (
19
86
).
-
Jerdon's
cour
se
r.
Sp
ec
ie
s, Newsletter of the
sse.
August
19
86 :
33.
ANON. (1989a). -Tourist Guide
to
K
umaon
Reg
ion. Nest and Wings,
New
Delhi, 72
p.
ANON. (1989b). -Tourist Guide to Dehradun, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Rishikesh. Nest and Wings, New Del·
hi,
40
p_
BONAPARTE
C.
(1856
).
-Excursions dans les
divers
musees
d'
Allemagne, de Hollande et
de
Belgique et
tableaux paralleliques de
I'ordre
des Echassier
s.
Comptes Rendus H
ebdom
adaires des Seances
de
l'Academie des Sciences, Paris,
43:
410-
42
1.
CROWTHER
G.,
RAJ
P.A. and WHEELER
T.
(1987). -India, a travel survival kit. 3rd edition. Lonely Planet
Publications, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia, 802
p.
GREENWAY J.C. (1958). - Extinct and Vanishing Birds
of
the
Worl
d.
Am
e
r.
Comm.
International
Wildli
fe
Protection Special Publ.
No
13:
201
·
20
3.
HED
I
GER
H,
(1961). -Tierpsychologie
im
Zoo und im Zirkus. Verlag Friedrich
ReinhardtAG.
Basel, 430
p.
HEYMER A. (1977). -Ethologisches
Wor
terbuch. Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin a
nd
Hamburg,
237
p.
HUME A.O. and MARSHALL
CHT.
(1879·81). -The Game Birds
of
India, Burmah and Ceylon. 3 vols.
A. Acton, Calcutta.
OLIVER W. L.A.
(19801.
-The
Pigmy
Hog. The Biology and Conservation
of
the
Pigmy
Hog Sus (porcula)
salvanius and the Hispid Hare Caprolagus hispidus. The Jersey
Wildli
fe Preservation Trust. Special
Scientific Report
No.1,
80
p.

590
Distribution
of
the
mountain
quail
RIEGER
I.
and WALZTHQNY
O.
(1990). -Searching for
mountain
quails, Ophrysi8 superciliosa.
Manu-
script, 47
p.
RIEGER
I.
and WALZTHONY D. - The
mountain
quail
puzzle.
W.PA
News
(in press).
RIEGER
I.
and WALZTHONY
D.
-Considerations
on
the
biology
of
mountain
quails, Ophrysia supercilia-
58.
W.P.A.
Journal
(in press).
RIPLEY S.D. (1952). -
Vanishing
and ext
inct
bird
species
of
India. J,
Bombay
Na
t.
His!, Soc.,
50:
902-906.
ROUILLARD
H.
(1981). - Richtig rei sen .
Nord
-Indien. Office
du
Livre,
Fribourg,
287
p.
(+
40
p.
).
LA
DISTRIBUTION
DE
L'OPHRV$IE
DE
L'HIMALA VA
(OPHRYSIA SUPERCILIOSA)
AU
SIEClE
DERNIER
I.
RIEGER et
D.
WALZTHONY
MOTS
ClE
S:
Ophrysie de I'Himalaya, Ophrysia superciliosa,
distribution,
espece eteinte, espece en danger, essai
de
redecouverte,
Himalaya.
RESUME
II
existe
dans Ie
monde
seulement
neuf
specimens
d'ophrysie
de
I'Himalay
a
(Ophrys
ia superciliosa) naturalises et
montes.
lis
se
trouvent
iJ
ce
jour
dans
quatre
collections
scientifiques
differentes. lis
proviennent
de
deux
sites
sur
les
basses
pentes
de
I'Himalaya
occidental:
Mussoorie
et Nainital. Ces
deux
sites,
/)
plus
de
1500
m
d'altitude,
sont
separes
par
la vallee
du
Gange, et
eloignee
I'un de {'autre de 180 km. Cette
distribution
scindee en
deux
est
probablement
la consequence de la
colonisation
humaine
des
regions
basses
qu
i a
pousse
vers
les versants
superieursces
oiseaux
qui
volent
mal. II y a
eu
recemment
quelques
t
entatives
infructueuses
pour
redecouvrir
I'ophrysie
de I'Himalaya.
Nous
pro-
posons
que, dans Ie futur, les recherches
soient
concentrees
sur
les
montagnes
situlies
au
nord
des
deux
aires
d'origine,
Mussoorie
et
Nainital, et
egalement
sur
Ie
Nepal.
DIE VERBREITUNG DER
HIMAlAJA
·
BERGWACHTEl
(OPHRYSIA SUPERCILIOSA)
1M
lETZTEN
JAHRHUNDERT
I.
RIEGER
und
D.
WAlZTHDNY
SCHlUSSElWDRTER :
Himalaja
-Bergwachtel,
Ophrysia
superciliosa, Verb rei-
tung, erloschene Art,
bedrohte
Art, Versuch
einer
Wiederentdeckung,
Himalaja.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Es
gibt
nur
neun
priiparierte
Exemplare
der
Himalaja-Bergwachtel
(Ophrysia
superciliosa) in
der
Welt. Sie
befinden
sich
heute
in
vier
verschiedenen
wissen-
schaftlichen Kollektionen
und
stammen
aus
zwei
Arealen
des
niedrigen
westli-
chen Hima/ajagebirges
.-
Mussoorie
und
Nainital. Oiese
sind
durch
das
Gangestal
getrennt,
fiegen in
einer
H6he
von
mehr
als 1 500 m
NN
und
sind
180
km
vonein
-
ander
getrennt. Oiese in
zwei
Teile
aufgesplitterte
Verbreitung
ist
wahrschein-
lich
darauf
zunJckzufuhren, daB
die
menschliche
Besiedlung
der
unteren
Lagen
die
nur
schwach
fliegenden
Tiere
in
die
h6heren
Hiinge
verdrangt
hat.
Es
sind
vor
kurzem
einige
unfruchtbare
Versuche
untemommen
worden,
urn das Hang-
huhn
emeut
zu finden.
Wir
schlagen vor, daB sich die
zukunftigen
Nachfor-
schungen
auf
die
im
Norden
der
Ursprungsareale,
Mussoorie
und
Nainital,
befindlichen
Berge
tlnd
ebenso
atlf
Nepal
konzentrieren soflten.
•