Arborophila tonkinensis

The Tonkin partridge represented in the project as Arborophila tonkinensis is a roughly 28–30-centimetre ground bird with a white forehead and eyebrows marked in black, a brown, dark-marked crown and nape, buff-washed white ear coverts with black spotting, and mottled olive-brown upperparts. A chestnut band crosses the upper breast, narrower in northern populations, while the back is black-barred and the legs are pale yellow-green (Vietnam Forestry University species account; Aerien species account).

Vietnamese sources place it in northeastern and north-central Vietnam, in evergreen or mixed forest on comparatively level terrain up to about 1,300 metres. Birds live in pairs or small groups, feed on the ground by day and roost on branches at night, taking fruit, seeds, earthworms and insects. Taxonomy varies: some lists recognise Tonkin Partridge as a species, while others treat tonkinensis within Green-legged or Scaly-breasted Partridge complexes (Vietnam Forestry University; Trust for Avian Systematics; British Birds).