Other Scientific Names
Excalfactoria chinensis [Christidis and Boles (2008)]
Other Names (World)
King Quail, Blue-breasted Quail, Chinese Quail, Blue-breasted Quail, Chestnut-bellied Quail, Dwarf Quail, Least Quail, Painted Quail, Chinese Painted Quail, Asian Blue Quail
Family
Phasianidae (Pheasants, Partridges, Turkeys, Grouse)
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China (mainland), India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Timor-Leste (B) (NB), Vietnam.
Introduced to Guam.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Food
Seeds of grasses and other plants, and insects.
Voice
A drawn out whistle, descending, husky and plaintive 'kee-er, kee-er' or 'kee-eee-er, kee-eee-er' repeated. Also quiet peeps and low husky growls.
King Quail (Synoicus chinensis) [XC834387]
by id from Taman Botani Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia (call)
King Quail (Synoicus chinensis) [XC688915]
by Lim Ying Hien from Royal National Park, Sutherland Shire Council, New South Wales, Australia (song)
Nest
A depression in the ground, lined with dried grasses, placed in the shelter of a tuft of grass.
Eggs (Guide)
4 or 5, occasionally as many as 10; lustrous light brown, covered with black-brown dots and spots; oval; about 25 x 19 mm. Incubation: about 20 days; by female.
Young
Altricial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
King Quail (Synoicus chinensis) and African Blue Quail (Synoicus adansonii) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Coturnix chinensis following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993).
Forms a superspecies with African Blue Quail (Synoicus adansonii) and sometimes considered conspecific.
The following 11 subspecies are recognised:
chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766) - India and Sri Lanka eastern through Indochina to south-eastern China and Taiwan, and south to Malay Peninsula.
trinkutensis Richmond, 1902 - Nicobar Is. Also said to occur in Andaman Is (subspecies unspecified).
palmeri (Riley, 1919) - Sumatra and Java.
lineata (Scopoli, 1786) - Philippines; Borneo; Sumatra and Java to Sulawesi, Sula Islands, and Lesser Sundas (Lombok to Sumba, Flores and Timor).
lineatula (Rensch, 1931) - Lombok east to Timor, Lesser Sundas.
novaeguineae Rand, 1942 - Mountains of New Guinea.
papuensis Mayr and Rand, 1937 - South-eastern New Guinea.
australis Gould, 1865 - Australia. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Brown Quail (Synoicus ypsilophorus).
Similar Species
Red-backed Buttonquail (Turnix maculosus) which has paler wings with yellow-buff, black-spotted shoulders and Little Buttonquail (Turnix velox) which is pinkish-cinnamon above and whiter below, and has a heavier bill.
References
See References.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet