King quail
Synoicus chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
The king quail (Synoicus chinensis) is a bird of the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. It is a small, terrestrial and sedentary bird of grassland, with an adult body mass of 40.41 g and up to 41.75 g.
Quick facts about the king quail
Its diet category is omnivore, and it lays 1 clutch of 6 eggs per year, with an incubation period of 16.5 days. Checklists record it in Australia, its geographic range covers 8,165,000 km², and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
- Weight
- 40.4 g – 41.8 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Omnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 16.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 6src for Young per litter or clutch
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the king quail
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the king quail live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The king quail is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the king quail?
The king quail (Synoicus chinensis), also known as the Asian blue quail, blue-breasted quail, Chinese painted quail, button quail, or Chung-Chi, is a very small, diminutive galliform of the tribe Coturnicini in the subfamily Phasianinae. They are the smallest member in this subfamily and the family Phasianidae, as well as being the smallest and lightest member of the order Galliformes. It is quite common in aviculture worldwide, where it is sometimes referred to as the "button quail", although it is not closely related to the family of birds called buttonquails. Its voice is a piping whistle, ti-yu or ti-ti-yu. It also gives sharp cheeps or a tir-tir-tir sound when flushed.
From the Wikipedia article “King quail” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King_quail&oldid=1381244090), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the king quail endangered?
The king quail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the king quail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderGalliformes
- familyPhasianidae
- genusSynoicus
- SpeciesSynoicus chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Coturnix chinensis, Coturnix chinensis_old, Coturnix excalfactoria, Excalfactoria chinensis
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- Asian blue quailEnglish
- Blue quailEnglish
- Blue-breasted quailEnglish
- Button quailEnglish
- Chinese painted quailEnglish
- Domestic button quailEnglish
- Painted button quailEnglish
- سمان الملكArabic
- سمان أزرق أسيويArabic
- سمان أزرق الصدرArabic
- রাজ বটেরাBangla
- guatlla blava asiàticaCatalan
- křepelka čínskáCzech
- Kinesisk DværgvagtelDanish
- ZwergwachtelGerman
- Chinesische ZwergwachtelGerman
- ĉinia koturnoEsperanto
- Codorniz chinaSpanish
- Codorniz Azul ChinaSpanish
- ida-sinivuttEstonian
- idänsiniviiriäinenFinnish
- Caille bleueFrench
- Caille de ChineFrench
- Caille peinteFrench
- kínai törpefürjHungarian
- Puyuh batuIndonesian
- Quaglia pettobluItalian
- Quaglia della CinaItalian
- ヒメウズラJapanese
- 미니메추리Korean
- 왕메추라기Korean
- azijinė melsvoji putpelėLithuanian
- നീലമാറൻ കാടMalayalam
- Chinese DwergkwartelDutch
- asiablåvaktelNorwegian
- przepiórka chińskaPolish
- codorniz-chinesaPortuguese
- Расписной перепелRussian
- Китайский голубой перепелRussian
- prepelica čínskaSlovak
- Kineska prepelicaSerbian
- asiatisk blåvaktelSwedish
- นกคุ่มสีThai
- Asya Mavi BıldırcınıTurkish
- перепілка китайськаUkrainian
- 小鵪鶉Chinese
- 蓝胸鹑Chinese
- 藍胸鵪鶉Chinese
- 藍胸鶉Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the king quail
Other species in the same genus Synoicus.
CompareKing quail vs Brown quailKing quail vs Blue quailKing quail vs Snow mountain quail
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the king quail?
The king quail is a bird of the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Other English names for it include Blue quail, Button quail and Asian blue quail.
How heavy is the king quail?
The king quail has an adult body mass of 40.41 g, with values up to 41.75 g reported, placing it in the small size class.
What does the king quail eat?
The king quail's diet category is omnivore.
Is the king quail endangered?
No. The king quail is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How many eggs does the king quail lay?
The king quail lays 6 eggs per clutch and 1 clutch per year. The eggs are incubated for 16.5 days.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). King quail (Synoicus chinensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-quail
“King quail (Synoicus chinensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-quail.
@misc{king_quail_2026,
title = {King quail (Synoicus chinensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/king-quail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}