DESCRIPTION: 15″. A heavy ground dwelling partridge, brownish with buffy, black, and rusty markings. A black band extends through each eye and joins the lower throat. Distinguished from the quail by lighter color, lack of a head plume, and a red-orange bill.
Chukar
PARK DISTRIBUTION: Introduced on Hawaii in 1949, on Maui in 1953. Kilauea—Occasional on the slopes of Mauna Loa, descending as far as the rim of Kilauea Crater. Haleakala—Common in open lava slopes inside and out of the crater but especially along the drive to the summit.
VOICE: Chickenlike cackles and clucks, sometimes quite loud.
They are well camouflaged to blend with Hawaii’s gray lava and are not usually seen until one or more flushes from an open or even bare slope. Then they will fly downslope, sometimes for hundreds of yards, land, and again merge invisibly with the somber background.
During the breeding season in late spring and summer the birds pair up; at other times of the year you may encounter coveys of a dozen or more.
RING-NECKED PHEASANT Phasianus colchicus torquatus
(also Chinese pheasant)
DESCRIPTION: Male 33″-36″; female 20″. Male: A rich chestnut-brown bird with a conspicuous white collar at the base of a dark green neck, and an extremely long pointed tail. Hybridizes freely with the Japanese blue pheasant, producing various combinations of ring-necked and blue plumage. Female: Dull brown with a shorter tail than the male, similar to the Japanese blue hen.
