Red Breasted Partridge (Arborophila hyperythra)

Description: Medium-sized (32 cm), brown partridge with bold, black and white pattern on flanks. Crown and nape blackish, streaked brown; eyebrow and cheeks pale chestnut. Some birds from Sarawak have grey eyebrow and cheeks, and darker breast. Upperparts brown, narrowly barred black; bold black marks on tertiaries. Breast cinnamon; vent white. Female has browner, smaller white spots.

Iris - brown; bill - grey; bare eye-ring skin - crimson; feet - pinkish.

Voice: A repeated, ringing, rising note kuwar, uttered at a rate of about 3 per second, answered by a loud, double not cuckoo dropping in pitch, at a rate of about one per second.

Range: Endemic to Borneo.

Distribution and status: Confined to hills of N Borneo; from Mt. Kinabalu south to Usun Apau and upper Kayan, and outlier Mt. Mulu. Not uncommon in sub-montane forests from 600 to 1200 m, notably common in Kelabit highlands, also reported from Ulu Barito.

Habits: Shy, groups keep to thickets and bamboo in forest.