Sapphire Quail-Dove

The sapphire quail-dove is 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10.2 in) long and weighs 139 to 199 g (4.9 to 7.0 oz). The male of the nominate subspecies has a white forehead, throat, and small patch below the eye. It has a conspicuous, long, purple-black malar stripe. Its dark bluish gray crown becomes bronzy green on the nape; below that is an iridescent patch of green, gold, and purplish pink. The back and wing coverts are purple-brown and the rump iridescent greenish or purplish blue. The central tail feathers are slaty black and the outer ones are blackish with blue-gray tips. The closed wing shows an elongated white spot. The breast is pale gray fading to white on the belly and adjoined by buff flanks. Its eyes are pale yellow to dark brown. The adult female has the same plumage pattern but is less brilliant. Juveniles are dark reddish brown above, a duskier gray below, and their facial markings are less intense. G. s. rothschildi is essentially the same as the nominate but for darker eyes.

The nominate subspecies of sapphire quail-dove is found across far southern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador to southeastern Peru and east into extreme western Amazonian Brazil. G. s. rothschildi is found only in the area around Cadena in southeastern Peru's Marcapata District. The species inhabits the ground and undergrowth of primary and older secondary evergreen montane forest, often near streams. In Peru it ranges up 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation and up to 1,350 m (4,430 ft) in Ecuador.

The sapphire quail-dove forages on the ground, singly or in pairs. Its diet has not been documented but it probably eats seeds and small invertebrates like other quail-doves.