The Gorgeted Wood Quail lives in a limited area of Colombian mountain forest and feeds mainly on the ground on fruit and seeds.
It is about 25 cm long. The male is dark brown with white spots, a black-and-white speckled face, and a white throat collar bordered in black. The female's collar reverses that black-and-white pattern.
Gorgeted Wood-quails are mountain-forest birds endemic to Colombia. They forage for fruit, seeds and arthropods in humid forests dominated by oak and laurel, and have also been recorded in regrown forest.
From April to June 2005, a study at Cachalú Biological Reserve compared young and older secondary forest. Three groups occurred within 17.28 ha, with more birds and groups in the older El Helechal forest. Use differed between these two regenerating sites.
Features associated with used places included foliage volume near the ground, canopy height and proportions of fallen and standing dead trees. Forest structure, alongside plant composition, formed part of the birds’ local habitat.
IUCN Red List (BirdLife listing) · Vulnerable · Global
BirdLife’s 2018 global assessment lists Vulnerable. Decline is inferred from habitat loss, logging and hunting, with predation by dogs also identified as a threat. Retaining remaining mountain forest and suitable regrowth helps preserve habitat extent and condition.