The behavior of the Japanese or domestic quail Coturnix japonica.

This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the behavior of the Japanese or domestic quail Coturnix japonica. Details are given of the classification, characteristics, domestication and the economic and research potential of the species. Further sections deal with sensation and perception (including taste and smell, vision and hearing), maintenance behavior (including feeding and drinking, dust bathing and thermoregulation), development and aging (including vocalization, filial imprinting, sexual imprinting, fear and avoidance responses, sexual maturation and aging), adult learning (including habituation, instrumental conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning and observational learning), photoperiodism, reproductive behavior (including courtship and mating, hormonal control and ontogeny of sexual differentiation, and male and female sexual behavior), parental behavior (including nest-site selection and nest building, incubation behavior and its hormonal control, and hen-chick relationships), and aggressive behavior and dominance (including agonistic behavior and the hormonal control of aggressive behavior).