Button Quail

- Coturnix chinensis  AKA, King Quail (in Australia) and/or Chinese Painted Quail
- Name "button' probably because chicks are size of a "button'. They can be found throughout the world.
- Have been kept for hundreds of years, once even used in Asia for 'cock fighting'
- Terrestrial birds, ground dwelling, feet can not perch
- Flight limited to quick bursts (straight up, with wings flapping) when frightened.

- Runs for   cover upon landing. In small cages, they can seriously hurt their head. 
- Baths in dirt (or seed) not water, can easily drown in 'deep' water dishes. 
- Are generally territorial, but need one companion
- Cocks will emit a low growl sound, 5-7 seconds in length at about 40 decibels, followed by 5 to 10 crows at about 70 decibels
- Buttons do not like to be alone. Cocks will do non-stop crowing when alone
- Hen makes a soft 'peep peep' sound used to call chicks
- Cocks sometimes carry a worm (or piece of food), 'peeping' to call hen and hen will take worm (emulating parent feeding chick behavior)
 

At Cub Creek Science Camp we have a small flock of Button Quail that stay in The Jungle with the Cockatiels.  The Button Quail are terrestrial birds so they stay down on the ground.  They do an excellent job cleaning up the food that the Cockatiels drop.  Buttons are busy little birds always running back and forth searching for some speck of food that they missed.  Our Button Quail are always laying eggs on the floor so you have to be really careful not to step on them when you go into the room. Female Button Quail can be distinguished from the males by the lack of marking on the head.  (This gets harder and harder to tell with the many color mutations.)  The males have a black and white bib and are slightly smaller than the females.  Males may also be identified by their call that sounds like pee pee pew .