Turnicidae

General

Information is from dictionaries and other sources. Comments and corrections welcome. All Malaysian and Indonesian names in the process of conversion into modernised spelling only. Hover over Green Lettering Green lettering at this site hides a tool tip with glosses, further explanations, etc. Hover cursor to reveal. to see additional information.

In the Southeast Asian region, the buttonquails (Turnicidae) typically share the same general names with the quails and partridges (both Phasianidae). Often the general names may be used informally without any additional modifiers to indicate any or all of these species. In modern popular Malaysian and Indonesian all of these birds are considered to be kinds of puyuh.

General Name	Conventional English Equivalent	Maximum Extent of Current Range of Meaning	Current Narrow Meaning
puyuh	'quail'	buttonquails; quails and partridges (Phasianidae)	any quail or buttonquail

Puyuh (and its variants such as puyoh and kepuyuh) occur in both Malaysian and Indonesian.

In addition to the shared name, popular Indonesian has an exact synonym, gemak 'quail', which was borrowed from Javanese. In modern Ornithological Indonesian, gemak has been restricted to Turnix.

Ornithological naming

Modern Malaysian and Indonesian ornithologists have been working to uniquely distinguish the turnicid quails from the coturnicid quails, with conflicting results.

Form of Name	Original Meaning	Ornithological Malaysian	Ornithological Indonesian
puyuh	'quail'	Turnix; Coturnix * (Phasianidae)	---
puyuh gonggong	'barking-quail'	---	Arborophila (Phasianidae)
puyuh tegalan	'dryfield-quail'	---	Turnix
gemak	'quail'	---	Turnix

* Extralimital species only

Species names

SCIENTIFIC & WESTERN		MALAY			OTHER S. E. ASIAN		EAST ASIAN
Turnix
Latin	English	Malaysian	Other M	Indonesian	Thai	Vietnamese	Chinese	Japanese
Turnix sylvaticus Turnix sylvatica	Common buttonquail Small buttonquail Little Button-quail Little Bustard Quail Kurrichane Buttonquail Andalusian Hemipode	Burung Puyuh Kecil 'small quail (bird)' (24, 28)		Burung Gemak Tegalan 'dryfield quail (bird)'  Burung Puyuh Tegalan Kecil 'small dryfield quail (bird)' (29)	นกคุ่มอืดเล็ก nók kʰûm èuut lék 'small buttonquail (bird)'	Chim Cun cút nhỏ 'small quail (bird)' (12, 13, 34)	林三趾鹑 (林三趾鶉 ) lín sān-zhǐ-chún 'forest three-toed quail' Taiwan: (林三趾鹑) 林三趾鶉 lín sān-zhǐ-chún 'forest three-toed quail'	ヒメミフウズラ (姫三斑鶉) hime mi-fu uzura 'princess three-striped quail'
Turnix suscitator	Barred Buttonquail Bustard Quail Common Bustard Quail	Burung Puyuh 'quail (bird)' (old, 26, 28) Burung Puyuh Tanah 'ground quail (bird)' (24, 25)		Burung Gemak Loreng 'striped quail (bird)' Burung Puyuh Tegalan Loreng 'striped dryfield quail (bird)' (29)	นกคุ่มอกลาย nók kʰûm òk-laay 'stripe-breasted quail (bird)'	Chim Cun cút lưng hung 'reddish-backed quail' (12, 13, 34)	棕三趾鹑 (棕三趾鶉 ) zōng sān-zhǐ-chún 'reddishbrown three-toed quail' Taiwan: (棕三趾鹑) 棕三趾鶉 zōng sān-zhǐ-chún 'reddishbrown three-toed quail'	ミフウズラ (三斑鶉) mi-fu uzura 'three-striped quail'

นกคุ่มอืด nók kʰûm-èuut means 'buttonquail' but the derivation of the name is unclear since there are two principal adjectival meanings for อืด èuut, 'slow' and 'swollen', and ornithologically the word is found only in the buttonquail names.

Danh Lục Chim Việt Nam (In lần thứ hai) (Checklist of the Birds of Vietnam) Võ Quý, Nguyễn Cử, Nhà Xuất Bản Nông Nghiệp, Hà Nội 1999

Chim Việt Nam Nguyễn Cử, Lê Trọng Trải, Karen Phillipps; Nhà Xuất Bản Lao Động - Xã Hội, 2000

Senarai Nama-nama Burung Semenanjung Malaysia dan Asia Tenggara by Ismail, Abdul Rahman, Perhilitan (Jabatam Perlindungan Hidupan Liar dan Taman Negara, Semenanjung Malaysia), Kuala Lumpur 1981
List of the Names of Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Southeast Asia by Ismail, Abdul Rahman, Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 1981

The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula: Vol. 1 - Non-passerines by Wells, David R., Academic Press, London 1999

A Field Guide to the Birds of West Malaysia and Singapore by Jeyarajasingam, Allen and Alan Pearson, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1999

A Field Guide to the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore (second edition) by Jeyarajasingham, Allen, Illustrations by Alan Pearson, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012

A Field Guide to the Birds of Java and Bali (second edition) by MacKinnon, John, Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta 1990

Danh Lục Các Loài Chim ở Việt Nam (Latinh, Việt, Pháp, Hán) Trần Văn Chánh 2008-2009