It is an effort to bring a species back from the dead. Literally. The Himalayan Quail was last sighted in 1876, but the Uttarakhand forest department thinks it might still be alive. And the person who can first prove this will win a big monetary reward.
The forest department's mission to rediscover the bird began with advertisements in English and Hindi newspapers, detailing the bird's features and its habitat. They also promised a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone who provides conclusive proof that the Himalayan Quail still exists in the forests of Uttarakhand.
But why the sudden interest in the bird? "The first week of October is usually celebrated in India as Wild Week. We thought the time was ripe to try and rediscover the bird," says Paramjit Singh, chief conservator of forests, Kumaon Division.
The Himalayan Quail, also called the Mountain Quail, was a medium-sized species from the pheasant family. The male of the species was dark grey with black speckles and white forehead. The female was brownish, with dark streaks and greyish brow. The red-coloured bill and legs distinguished it from other quail species. Its 10-feathered tail was longer, nearly as long as the wing, than in most quails. It lived in coveys of five or six and favoured steep hillsides covered by long grass. Ornithologists have recorded that the Himalayan Quail was very rarely seen in the open, except at dawn or dust. It would rather run than fly when escaping danger, and its wings did not seem designed for flying long distances.
The quail was seen in the mid-19th century, primarily in the vicinity of Nainital, Mussourie and Jharipani. It is not known to have inhabited other forests of the country.
It was a popular game bird. It was sought out by British officers for their leisure hunting. Mass killing of the bird probably led to its extinction around the 1870s. Around five preserved specimens of the bird can be seen in London's Natural History Museum. There are 11 preserved bodies of the bird in India.
The forest department's hopes of rediscovering the quail rest on the numerous unconfirmed sightings over the years. Fuelling the Uttarakhand foresters' hopes is also the fact that the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, has not formally declared the Himalayan Quail extinct.
"We are confident someone in Kumaon will find it," says Singh.
If the quail is indeed found by a local, it would become another member of the so-called "Lazarus Taxon" club - creatures that have disappeared, only to be rediscovered again - a bewildering reminder that when given a chance, life finds a way to survive.
A bewildering array of creatures belong to this club, including, famously, the coelacanth, a fish that was believed extinct since the late Cretaceous Era but caught off South Africa in 1938.
Similarly, the Caspian Horse, an ancient horse breed was thought to have become extinct in the 7th century but was found live in the 1960s and is actually bred in some countries today. Others include the La Palma giant lizard, the Bermuda petrel and the Black Kokanee, a salmon species in Japan.
