Quail

Quail are a species of game birds native to the Blessed Isle, but which have also been introduced across the inner Threshold. Quails are small and rotund, their plumage typically streaked brown with a light or white eye stripe.

Quail spend most of their lives on the ground, preferring grasslands and farmlands where they feed on seeds and insects. Though they are capable of flight, at least in short bursts, they prefer to conceal themselves in underbrush rather than taking to the air. They are migratory, moving and feeding, and build their nests on the ground.

Quail is popular in cooking, both the birds and the eggs eaten in cuisines across Creation, including the Dynastic Dim Sum dining of the Realm. The small size of the birds means they are rarely deboned, instead eaten whole. The eggs are favoured for their small size, allowing them to serve as garnishes in a number of dishes, and in many cities of the Blessed Isle domesticated quail kept on rooftops or alleyway pens serve as a source of eggs for the citizenry, used in home cooking and street food.

Quail, though small, have an impressive resistance to toxicity, a trait causing some hedge shamans to consider them favoured by the Elemental Dragon of Wood Sextes Jylis. Those who dine on quail must be cautious in areas heavy in poisonous seeds (the most common source being Henbane), as the poisons eaten by quail end up stored in their fat and persist to afflict those who dine on the birds, even if the birds themselves suffer no symptoms.

The Quail is used to represent the rank of Senior Clerk in the mandarin squares of the Thousand Scales.