Swamp Francolin

The swamp francolin is a game bird related to the pheasant found in the floodplains of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers from north-central India and southern Nepal east to northeastern India in Assam. 

Swamp francolin range from Birds of the World. Kaziranga NP is located about three-quarters of the way to the right in the range. 

We saw it twice in Kaziranga NP in Asssam, India, both times in the Central Range. In the article in Wikipedia, four of the five photos were taken in Kaziranga NP. It is found in wet grasslands prone to flooding, in tall dense grassland near marshy and swampy areas and in sugarcane plantations around standing water and paddyfields. It is also known as the swamp partridge and when hunted is usually shot from elephants. It is rated as Near Threatened by the IUCN and there may only be 10,000 to 20,000 remaining. Birds of the World notes that it remains common in Kaziranga NP. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

It has a rusty throat and foreneck and contrasting white stripes on the underparts with a rufous vent. The upperparts are overall brown and finely barred rufous and buff. The bill is black, the legs are orange/yellow to red and it has a whitish-buff supercilium. 

This is the first swamp francolin we saw, tucked away among some very tall grass. Our guide had to take quite a while describing it before we could see it.