Buttonquails (Turnicidae)

Black-breasted Buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster) - HBW 3, p. 57

French: Turnix à poitrine noire German: Schwarzbrust-Laufhühnchen Spanish: Torillo Pechinegro

Taxonomy: Hemipodius melanogaster Gould, 1837, Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia.
Variously considered to be similar to, and possibly related to, either T. nigricollis and T. ocellata, or T. suscitator; but affinities more likely to be with T. varia group, and males of melanogaster and varia resemble each other. Proposed race goweri (Queensland) no longer recognized because based on individual variation. Monotypic.

Distribution: Coastal E Australia, in SE Queensland and extreme NE New South Wales; recently found to occur on offshore Fraser I.