鹤形目

董鸡 Watercock
Gallicrex cinerea

中型涉禽
体长 35~43 cm

虹膜 /iris

雄性红色，雌性灰褐色 /red (males) or brown (females)

嘴 /bill

黄绿色 /greenish-yellow

脚 /legs and feet

黄绿色 /greenish-yellow

目 │ 鹤形目GRUIFORMES 科 │ 秧鸡科Rallidae

野外识别 │ 雄鸟头顶有显眼的红色额甲，其后端突起游离而呈尖形，全体灰黑色，具宽阔棕色羽缘，下体颜色较浅。雌鸟体较小，黄褐色额甲不突起，上体灰褐色。

居留及分布 │ 分布于南亚次大陆、中国大陆及中国台湾，以及亚洲其他地区，越冬于日本、马来半岛、加里曼丹、爪哇及小巽他群岛。在中国为夏候鸟。在南岭为夏候鸟，乳阳有记录。

生境及习性 │ 栖息于水稻田、池塘、芦苇沼泽、湖边草丛中。性机警，常单独或成对活动。善行走，常在浅水中涉水取食，行走时尾翘起，一步一点头。杂食性，主要吃种子和嫩枝、水稻，也吃软体动物、水生昆虫及其幼虫等。繁殖期 5—9 月。在浅水草丛中用草叶筑巢。窝卵数3~8 枚，卵椭圆形、淡粉红色或皮黄色。

Field identification │ A medium-sized, rather slender waterbird. Summer-plumaged males are distinctive with a red frontal shield which contrasts with the sooty-black head, neck and body. The scapulars and wing-coverts are blackish-brown with buff-grey fringes. On non-breeding males and females, the face, neck and breast are orange-buff and the mantle, scapulars and wing-coverts dark brown with broad buff fringes.

Distribution & status │ Breeds widely from India east to China and Korea and south through Indochina to Sumatra, the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands. In China, it is a summer visitor south of a line from western Yunnan to Liaoning. In Nanling, it is recorded at Ruyang.

Habitat & habits │ Watercocks occur singly or in pairs on marshes and wet farmland,especially paddyfields. Their diet includes seeds, worms, molluscs, aquatic insects and their larvae, and grasshoppers. They are quite secretive, and nest in Guangdong in June.