Editing Common quail (section)

==Taxonomy==
The common quail was [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Tetrao coturnix''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=161 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727068 }}</ref> The specific epithet ''coturnix'' is the [[Latin]] word for the common quail.<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page =[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n120 120]}}</ref> This species is now placed in the [[genus]] ''[[Coturnix]]'' that was introduced in 1764 by the French naturalist [[François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Garsault | first=François Alexandre Pierre de | author-link=François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault | year=1764 | title=Les figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en medecine, décrits dans la Matiere Medicale de Geoffroy Medecin | volume=5 | language=fr | location=Paris | publisher=Desprez | at=Plate 686 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33606631 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Welter-Schultes | first1=F.W. | last2=Klug | first2=R. | year=2009 | title=Nomenclatural consequences resulting from the rediscovery of ''Les figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en médecine'', a rare work published by Garsault in 1764, in the zoological literature | journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature | volume=66 | issue=3 | pages=225–241 [233] | doi=10.21805/bzn.v66i3.a1 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/377172 }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | year=2020 | title=Pheasants, partridges, francolins | work=IOC World Bird List Version 10.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/pheasants/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=3 October 2020 }}</ref> The common quail was formerly considered to be [[conspecific]] with the Japanese quail (''Coturnix japonica'').<ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts  | page=92 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482905 }}</ref> The ranges of the two species meet in Mongolia and near [[Lake Baikal]] without apparent interbreeding and in captivity the offspring of crosses show reduced fertility.<ref name=moreau>{{ cite journal | last1=Moreau | first1=R.E. | last2=Wayre | first2=P. | year=1968 | title=On the Palaearctic quails | journal=Ardea  | volume=56 | issue=3–4 | pages=209–227 | url=http://ardea.nou.nu/ardea_show_article.php?nr=1077 | url-access=registration }}</ref>{{sfn|Cramp|1980|p=503}} The Japanese quail is therefore now treated as a separate species.<ref name=ioc/>

Five [[subspecies]] are recognised:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''C. c. coturnix'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) – breeding in Europe and northwest Africa to Mongolia and north India, wintering in Africa and central, south India
* ''C. c. conturbans'' [[Ernst Hartert|Hartert]], 1917 – [[Azores]]
* ''C. c. inopinata'' Hartert, 1917 – [[Cape Verde Islands]]	
* ''C. c. africana'' [[Coenraad Jacob Temminck|Temminck]] & [[Hermann Schlegel|Schlegel]], 1848 – sub-Saharan Africa and the three islands
* ''C. c. erlangeri'' [[Otto Eduard Graf von Zedlitz und Trützschler|Zedlitz]], 1912 – east and northeast Africa