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This study investigated the habitat selection of the Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) during the breeding season of 2014 in an intensively managed agricultural environment (LAJTA Project, North-West Hungary). In order to assess the habitat preferences of the Common Quail, habitat composition around occupied plots were compared with unoccupied control plots. To characterize the habitat, a total of 11 variables related to vegetation structure and diversity, food availability and landscape were quantified. Multivariate methods (PCA and GLMs) were used to distinguish the main factors influencing habitat selection and to model the presence of the Common Quail. Based on our results, in the LAJTA Project, high probability of Common Quail presence can be predicted in plots with higher herbaceous cover and more abundant arthropod communities. The network of ecotone habitats, particularly the proximity to woody habitats, also appeared to have significant importance during the breeding season.

The Common or European quail (Coturnix coturnix) is a Galliform bird of ecological importance for research in the field of animal migration. The Common quail is also a game bird, thus, of great interest for recreational activities and conservation management. Here, we generated a high quality de novo transcriptome for the Common quail for which no reference genome is to date publicly available. The transcriptome was obtained from a population of Common quail originated from captive founders raised under laboratory conditions. Paired-end RNA-Sequencing reads were obtained from extracted total RNA of brain tissue punches (preoptic-hypothalamic region) of 23 quails, which yielded to 5.5–11.2 million reads per individual bird for a total of 236 million reads. After assembly optimization, we used a stringent filtering analysis pipeline to remove redundant and low confidence transcripts. The final transcriptome consisted of 22,293 transcripts of which 21,551 (97%) were provided with annotation data. Our data offers a high quality pipeline for compiling transcriptomes of complex non-genomic species. Our data also provide a robust reference for gene expression studies in this species or other related Galliform species, including the Japanese quail.

In 2015, we used the same method as in the 1989-1996 period to count calling males of the Common Quail Coturnix coturnix in selected 1x1 km squares of Ljubljansko barje (central Slovenia). We counted 39 males, which is 87% less compared to the survey 20 years ago. Quails were found in 56% fewer squares. Since Quail populations are known to fluctuate greatly between years, we think that the most realistic long-term estimate for population decline would be somewhere between 50 to 90%. We detected that within only one week males stopped calling in some squares, while in others they began calling although they had not been detected there before, indicating possible relocations. This dynamics should be considered when designing a population monitoring protocol for the Quail.

The study was aimed at evaluating the prevalence of enteropathogenic bacteria (i.e. Campylobacter spp., shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp.) in common quail (Coturnix coturnix). To achieve this goal, 70 common quails were collected during the hunting season in the Campania region (southern Italy). From each bird, cloacal swab samples were collected and subjected to culture methods, polymerase chain reaction and serotyping. The results of the present study showed a prevalence of 21.4% and 5.7% for Campylobacter spp. and shigatoxin-producing E. coli, respectively. In contrast, no Salmonella spp. was isolated. These findings show that common quail, as migratory birds, may constitute an environmental carrier of these pathogens representing a source of infection for other birds, livestock and humans.

Recopilación de observaciones sobre muda y ecología general y trófica de la Codorniz común (Coturnix coturnix) realizadas durante numerosas salidas de campo a diferentes enclaves de las provincias de Valladolid, Palencia y Burgos, entre el 20 de junio de 1943 y 31 de agosto de 1952. Se incluyen datos de siete contenidos estomacales., Compilation of general and trophic ecology and shedding of the Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) achieved through several field trips to different habitats of the provinces of Valladolid, Palencia and Burgos, between the 20th of June of 1943 and the 31st of August of 1952. Seven stomach content data are included.

International audience; Two subspecies of Coturnix coturnix have allopatric distributions in Europe, Maghreb and western Asia (the Common quail C. c. coturnix), and in eastern Asia (the Japanese quail C. c. japonica), except for sympatric breeding areas in the Baikal (Russia) and Kentei (Mongolia) regions, where they could hybridize. Japanese quails have been reproduced in captivity for centuries and domesticated. Massive releasing of Japanese domesticated quails, or hybrids, in west European countries might threaten with hybridization the gene pool of wild quail populations. Here, we used mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA markers (microsatellites), and Bayesian admixture analyses aiming to assess subspecies distinction and identify hybrids in wild and captive-reared quails. A phylogenetic tree identified two major mtDNA clades, corresponding to the two subspecies, and allowed detecting 12 hybrids in wild Common quails sampled in Spain. Additional hybrids were identified in wild quails sampled in Spain, Italy and Senegal using microsatellite markers. Wild quails sampled in Mongolia showed japonica mtDNAs, but their microsatellite genotypes were admixed, suggesting that Common and Japanese quails can hybridize in nature. Some captive-reared stocks of Japanese quails were also admixed. Introgression of domesticated Japanese quail genes in wild Common quail populations might affect the phenotypic expression of functional traits, as body size, feather colours, sexual calls and migratory behaviours. Hence, restocking with captive-reared non-native quails should be banned.

International audience; Quails issued of migrant parents show a large variability of their reproductive phenotypes when exposed in captivity to a winter Sahelian photoperiod (16º lat. N.). Fifteen per cent of these females lay spontaneously in December and/or January; 75% before late April. In order to evaluate the possibility of this sexual precocity in natural conditions, we have measured the gonadal development and other sexual characteristics: song, cloacal development, pair formation of the European quail (Coturnix c. coturnix) populations wintering in the alluvial plains in the Centre (39-40º lat. N.) of Portugal. The study was based on samples of birds shot there during the hunting seasons (September to December) of 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 (n=149). Results indicate that these wintering populations are starting their sexual development in late autumn. Importance and chronology of this sexual precocity seem to be related with sex: males were sexually more advanced than females. Distinct results were obtained in different years and stations according to weather conditions (temperature): in December 1992 (cold winter) only 38% of the birds analyzed in the coastal stations showed a beginning of sexual development, in contrast with 88% observed in December 1994. A large proportion (46% males, 51% females) of the birds shot on coastal stations (any frozen day) showed signs of sexual precocity (more than 100 mg of gonadal weight). Only a few birds were concerned the same year in colder interior stations of Centre Portugal as Guadiana basin (0% males and 18% females). Comparision with previous results obtained for Morocco and Portugal allows us to say that the European quail seasonal cycles are similar in both North African and Iberian areas. Those wintering birds, probably "short migrants", are precocious March breeders, which means that in mild winter, they can initialize their sexual development as early as December.These results justify the need of a wise protection of the quail present in December in some Portuguese agrosystems. Such conservative measures could have interesting consequences on the kinetics of all the Atlantic quail population.