A large ground-dwelling bird with black-and-white wing markings. In South Africa and Eswatini, males inflate the neck and display white plumes.
The male has a black crown, a broad white eyebrow stripe, and a bluish-grey face. The female has fine barring across the fore-neck and upper breast.
It is usually seen alone or in small groups and uses grasslands, shrubland, farmland, light woodland, and dry marshes. A displaying male inflates its neck and fans normally concealed white neck and breast plumes.
In southern Africa, flocking birds tend to gather in separate male and female groups.
In the Overberg of South Africa’s Western Cape, males display from August to December and egg laying takes place in September–October.
In southern Africa, males have a deep chestnut hindneck and upper mantle. The blackish-brown tail has 2–3 broad creamy-white bands.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.