This ground-dwelling bird forages in wet grass and along wetland edges. It eats plants and seeds as well as invertebrates from the ground.
It is brown, with darker markings around the face and throat. The Bangladesh account reports a size difference between the sexes.
Swamp Francolins inhabit wet grassland with tall vegetation. In northern India they also nest in sugarcane fields, using both cultivated fields and abandoned fields with dense growth.
Researchers radio-tracked birds near Dudwa National Park at Ghola Taal in 1998. Of six nests located, two survived to hatching: one in an unused sugarcane field and one in natural grassland.
A nest in cultivated sugarcane was destroyed during harvesting. At two other nests, incubating females were taken by a dog and by poachers. Nest outcomes depended on events within the vegetation, including harvest and encounters with people or dogs.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The 2003 researchers proposed retaining patches of native tall grass among sugarcane fields and periodically leaving some fields uncultivated. Management should consider nesting sites and harvest timing while maintaining dense cover within agricultural landscapes.