Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianida
Genus: Coturnix
Species: coturnix
Sub-species: confisa

Description
This is a heavily hunted bird that is often heard but rarely seen. The Quail has a small, rounded body and is brown in colour with lighter streaks. Both sexes have a white streak on their heads, but the female has a more homogeneous facial pattern than the male, which has a black throat centre.
In flight, the bird’s wings appear long and narrow. The Quail flies with very rapid wing beats and generally travels on a low, curved flight path from its starting point before dropping back down into ground cover.

Distribution
The Quail is found throughout all of northern Europe and, being a lover of warmth, migrates to Africa and Asia. The sub-species present in the Madeira archipelago is the same as is found in the Canaries (C.c. confisa). It is believed that in the hotter months some European individuals stop here on their migration routes. In the Madeira archipelago it is only on the Selvagens islands that this species does not occur.

Habitat
Quails are generally found in drier areas, in open fields with small bushes where they take cover and under which they look for the seeds and small insects that they feed on.

Breeding
On Madeira the bird nests in April and May while on Porto Santo the breeding season starts earlier – in February. The nest is built by the female in a shallow hollow lined with some vegetation, well-hidden among shrubs and grasses. Just one clutch of 7 to 12 eggs is laid annually. Only the female sits on the eggs and hatching takes two to three weeks. The female then looks after the chicks which very soon start to fly and pick at the ground in search of food. It is believed that the male mates with several females during the same nesting season.

Madeiran name: Codorniz
Madeira Archipelago resident breeder
Social: Flocks
Length: 31 - 35 cm
Status: Secure