This pheasant-family bird is endemic to Taiwan's mountain forests. Its black-and-white face and red legs stand out as it forages on the forest floor.
It has a grey crown, black sides to the face, and a white eyebrow and throat. The olive back and tail are barred black; the rufous wings have grey bars. The breast is blue-grey, the flanks have white streaks, and the legs are red. The female's black half-collar is narrower than the male's.
Taiwan Partridges build rounded nests from dead leaves and fine twigs, including at tree bases. After emerging, an incubating parent picks up leaves and twigs in front of the nest and tosses them backwards over it. Materials used to build the nest are moved again before the parent departs.
One nest at Huben in Yunlin County, Taiwan, was filmed for almost eight days in May and June 2006. During eight departures before hatching, covering the nest took about four and a half minutes on average. On most days the parent left once in the morning and walked away in the same direction.
Three chicks hatched from the four eggs on the morning of 4 June. They followed the parent outside that day and returned in the evening. After leaving again the following morning, they did not return. Once the chicks could walk, the leaf-built nest quickly ceased to be their home.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The December 2024 Red List of Birds of Taiwan lists this species as Least Concern. Its three nest accounts, involving leaf-built nests at tree or bamboo bases, provide information about the forest-floor settings used for breeding.