New World quail | Odontophoridae

Tandkwartels | Codornices americanas

Small, round-bodied gamebirds whose lower mandible has a serrated cutting edge, which gives the family its name. The leg carries no spur and is short and sturdy, suited to scratching and digging in the soil for seeds, tubers, berries and insects. Many species have a crest or a forward-curving plume on the head, and in most the male is more boldly marked than the female, often with a striking black-and-white face pattern. The family is found only in the Americas, and Mexico and Central America are especially rich in it: from the bobwhites and crested quails of open scrub and dry country to the wood-quails and wood-partridges of cloud forest and rainforest, which are rarely seen and are mostly heard at dawn and dusk, sometimes in duet or in chorus. They nest on the ground, often under a canopy of grass, and outside the breeding season live in fixed coveys that keep together with clear, far-carrying calls. When threatened they first crouch flat and flush explosively only at the last moment.