John Gould described the species in 1840, from a specimen collected by Benjamin Bynoe, ship's surgeon of HMS Beagle, from northwestern Australia, as Hemipodius castanotus.

[7] The species name is derived from the Ancient Greek words kastanon "chestnut" and noton "back".

[9] Its natural habitats are low grasslands and Eucalyptus forests and woodland, favouring quartzite-sandstone ridges, plateaus and escarpments, mostly (but not always) in areas that receive over 800 mm (31 in) summer rainfall.

[6] The usual sex roles are reversed in the buttonquail genus (Turnix), as the larger and more brightly-coloured female mates with multiple male partners and leaves them to incubate the eggs.

[10] The female lays a clutch of 1–5 (usually 4) pyriform eggs, which are glossy-white with sparse small dark blotches.