Habitat
Leaf-litter in drier rainforests, vine thickets, scrubby woodlands of eucalypts, sheoaks, bottle-tress, brush box, brigalow and other acacias, thickets of lantana on rainforest fringes, hoop pine plantations and grain stubble.
Coastal eastern Australia, in south-eastern Queensland and extreme north-eastern New South Wales. Recently found to occur on offshore Fraser I.
Population
Estimated population is 5,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Habitat destruction through clearance for agriculture and grazing are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Seeds of grasses and other plants. Occasionally insects.
Voice
Female, a low druning or booming 'oo-ooom oo-ooom', repeated quickly, many times, rising and falling. A quick 'ook' when disturbed.
Black-breasted Buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster) [XC812751]
by id from Dayboro, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia (call)
Black-breasted Buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster) [XC795616]
by Tom Tarrant from Dayboro, Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia (drumming, low-booming)
Nest
A depression in the ground, lined with grasses, usually under a low bush or tussock of grass.
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; glossy, with dirty white ground, finely speckled light brown, moderately covered with splotches of dark brown, black or grey; rounded-oval; about 28 x 21 mm. Incubation: 16 days; by male.
Young
Precocial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
Variously considered to be similar to, and possibly related to, either Madagascar Buttonquail (Turnix nigricollis) and Spotted Buttonquail (Turnix ocellatus), or Barred Buttonquail (Turnix suscitator), but affinities more likely to be with Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varius) group, and males of melanogaster and varia resemble each other.
Proposed subspecies goweri (Queensland) no longer recognized because based on individual variation.
No subspecies.
Similar Species
Male with Painted Buttonquail (Turnix varius) which is grey rather than black and has more chestnut on the shoulder.
References
See References.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet