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Button-quails, quail-plover
Order:
Gruiformes
Family: Turnicidae
14 species
Eurasia, Australia, Africa;
12-20 cm; neck short, body compact; wings short, rounded; terrestrial inhabitants of grasslands and open forests; rectrices soft, short; legs short, strong; 3 toes;
vegetable matter and invertebrates;
sequentially polyandrous (?); male smaller and often less brightly colored than female; usually 4 eggs; male parental care; short-lived, with sexual maturity at 3-5 months.
(Image taken from Sinclair, Ian, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton. Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Southern Africa. Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1993)