Snow Partridge

The snow partridge is the only species in its genus. It is 38–40cm long, with females weighing 450–580g and males 550–700g. It appears grey above and chestnut below, with a bright red bill and legs, finely barred upperparts and a 14-feathered dark tail barred in white. The sexes look alike, but males have a spur on the tarsus (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is widely distributed across the high-altitude Himalayan regions of Pakistan, China, India and Nepal, in alpine pastures and open hillside above the treeline, though not in as bare, rocky terrain as the Himalayan snowcock. Three to five pale yellow eggs with reddish-brown markings are laid; the female incubates while the male stands sentinel. Groups usually number six to eight, up to 30 outside the breeding season, and it is said to feed on mosses, lichens, berries and plant shoots (Wikipedia, general species account).