quail

1 flesh of quail; suitable for roasting or broiling if young; otherwise must be braised

2 small gallinaceous game birds v : draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, funk, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil]

English

Pronunciation

• /ˈkweɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Etymology 1

From quaille (French: caille).

Noun

1. Any of various small game birds of the family Phasianidae or of the family Odontophoridae.

Derived terms

• common quail

Translations

• Albanian: shkurta
• Arabic: (collective), (singulative)
• Basque: galeper
• Belarusian: перапелка
• Binomial name: Coturnix coturnix
• Bosnian: prepelica
• Breton: koailh
• Bulgarian: пъдпъдък (pâdpâdâk)
• Catalan: guatlla
• Croatian: prepelica
• Czech: křepelka
• Danish: vagtel
• Dutch: kwartel , kwakkel
• Esperanto: koturno
• Estonian: vutt
• Faroese: vaktil
• Finnish: viiriäinen
• French: caille , caille des blés
• West Frisian: kwartel
• Friulian: cuaie
• Galician: paspallás
• German: Wachtel
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὄρτυξ (ortyx)

  Modern: ορτύκι (ortiki)

• Hungarian: fürj
• Icelandic: kornhæna
• Interlingua: qualia
• Irish: gearg
• Italian: quaglia
• Japanese: ヨアロッパウズラ (yoaroppauzura)
• Ladin: caia
• Latin: coturnix
• Latvian: paipala
• Lithuanian: putpelė
• Lower Sorbian: paśpula
• Macedonian: потполошка (potpološka)
• Maltese: summiena
• Norwegian: vaktel
• Occitan: catla
• O'odham: kakaicu (specifically, Callipepla gambelii)
• Polish: przepiórka
• Portuguese: codorniz
• Romani: dropya
• Romanian: prepeliţa
• Romansh: quacra, quaiglia
• Russian: перепел (pérepel)
• Sami: goaktil
• Sardinian: xrìcchibi, trepotès, cricchibì, guàgliulu, cualla
• Scottish: gearradh-gort
• Serbian: препелица (prepelica)
• Slovak: prepelica
• Slovene: prepelica
• Spanish: codorniz
• Swedish: vaktel
• Turkish: bıldırcın
• Ukrainian: перепел (perepel)
• Upper Sorbian: pocpula
• Vietnamese: chim cút
• Volapük: kotur
• Welsh: sofliar

See also

• Partridge

Etymology 2

Verb

1. To shrink or waver; to become fearful or doubtful.
   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p25

     His heart quailed before the enormous pyramidal shape.

Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae, or in the family Odontophoridae. New World quails are not closely related but so named for their similar appearance and behaviour. Buttonquails are in a different family (Turnicidae) and are not true quails.

Behaviour

Quails are small, plump terrestrial birds. They are seed eaters but will also take insects and similar small prey. They nest on the ground and are capable of short, rapid bursts of flight. Some species such as the Japanese and Common Quail are migratory and fly for long distances. Some quail are farmed in large numbers. The Japanese Quail (or coturnix quail) is kept mostly to produce eggs.

Species in taxonomic order

• Genus Coturnix
  • Common Quail, Coturnix coturnix
  • Japanese Quail, Coturnix japonica
  • Stubble Quail, Coturnix pectoralis
  • New Zealand Quail, Coturnix novaezelandiae Extinct
  • Rain Quail, Coturnix coromandelica
  • Harlequin Quail, Coturnix delegorguei
  • Brown Quail, Coturnix ypsilophora
  • Blue Quail, Coturnix adansonii
  • Asian Blue Quail, Coturnix chinensis
• Genus Anurophasis
  • Snow Mountain Quail, Anurophasis monorthonyx
• Genus Perdicula
  • Jungle Bush-quail, Perdicula asiatica
  • Rock Bush-quail, Perdicula argoondah
  • Painted Bush-quail, Perdicula erythrorhyncha
  • Manipur Bush-quail, Perdicula manipurensis
• Genus Ophrysia
  • Himalayan Quail, Ophrysia superciliosa Critically Endangered/Extinct
  • Bobwhite Quail,

See also

• Quails in cookery

References

External links

• Quail Breeding

• Coturnix Corner Quail Forum

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