Abstract
The Red-crested Wood Partridge's popularity in captivity can be attributed to several qualities. The beautiful coloration of both sexes is one of these qualities. The males are a dark green, almost black, with a bright red crest, bare red skin around the eyes, and red legs. The male has a white patch of feathers just in front of his crest, high on his forehead, between his eyes. The female is different from most other Galliformes in that she is as equally attractive as the male. The female has a chestnut head and wings with a bright green back, breast, and tail. The female also has the bare red skin around the eyes and the bright red legs. Another attractive quality is a calm disposition, as they can quickly be persuaded to take meal- worms or crickets out of the hand. If they do panic they will often fly up and land on any available human body part on which they can perch. One female in the Fort Worth Zoo collection has been seen, on a couple of occasions, going into the box and laying eggs while the keeper is cleaning the floor. Both of these qualities make them an attractive exhibit bird for both private and public facilities. The Fort Worth Zoo currently houses three pairs of Red-crested Wood Partridges, and two of the three pairs have produced chicks.During the warmer part of the year the birds were kept in an outdoor exhibit that was about 20' x 20' with an 8' x 6' shelter attached. Due to the inconvenience of the shelter for ground birds, and colder temperatures, they were moved into an inside off-exhibit holding area in late October. Pair A is kept in a 6' x 8' enclosure along with a pair of Lilacbreasted Rollers. Pair B is kept in a 3' x 8' enclosure with two Superb Starlings. Both enclosures are in a building kept between 55 and 70°F. Corn cob litter was placed on the floor and is cleaned three times a week.
Both pairs are fed a diet consisting of Bird of Prey, corn, raisins, soaked Hi-Pro dog chow, finch seed and insects such as giant mealworms and crickets. When insects are fed, the male calls the female over and offers her the insects, which she takes from his beak.
While outside, Pair A produced one clutch of eggs in which all but one was destroyed by the Eclectus they were housed with. Both pairs of partridges were observed nest building about 16 days after being moved inside. The first egg for Pair A was found two days later and the first egg for Pair B was found seven days later.
The best nest materials seem to be pine needles, hay, bald cypress leaves, grass, oak leaves, and often paper that they strip themselves. The males did the majority of the building on the nest, but the females help with the nest building duties when laying time approaches. The nest is a basic dome shape in the wild. The collected materials are placed at the nest site and the male pushes into or under them and continues throwing nest material up over his back to make a cup shape in the nest. It is not uncommon for them to destroy the nest several times before they lay.
Frequently the female may be seen sitting in the nest for several hours at a time in the days and hours prior to laying. Due to small indoor enclosures and the necessity of cleaning, a simple nest box was added to encourage them to nest. The boxes are 10" x 10" x 10" with the entrance side half open (5 x 10).
Pair A, the first pair to nest, refused to use the box and they removed the material to the far corner of the enclosure. The female laid three eggs, one about every other day. Parent reared birds were desired, but they would not set on the eggs. After about five days from the laying of the first egg, an egg disappeared from the nest.
8 October/ November 1992