Gold quail

Color and pattern male

Head: glossy black, very narrow laced with gold.

Neck: large feathers of the hackle entirely velvet-black, sheen increases towards the back; smaller feathers, higher in the hackle towards the throat, velvet-black with a gold shaft and a very narrow gold lace.

Back and shoulders: each feather has a glossy green-black triangular center with warm gold-brown barbs; back-feathers with ochre-coloured shaft; back-feathers broad under the hackle, become narrower on the back and longer on the lower back.

Saddle-hackle: each feather black with bright-gold shaft and broad gold-brown barbs.

Tail: main-feathers black; sickles and coverts glossy green-black, lesser-coverts with gold-brown lacing.

Wings: front black with a narrow dark-brown lacing; wing-bows light-gold, greater-coverts gold-brown with a glossy black spangle at the tip of the feather, forming a black wing-bar.

Primariy-flights: black.

Secondary-flights: inner-web black; outer-web mostly cinnamon-brown, tip of the feather black, when the wing is closed a wing-bay is formed.

Breast and front of neck: overall vivid golden yellow (nanking-yellow), each feather has a slightly lighter lacing and shaft.

Thighs: similar to the breast; the large feathers covering the sides of the breast are very dark gold-yellowbrown with gold-yellow lacing and light gold-yellow shaft.

Belly: slightly darker than the breast.

Fluff: light greyish-brown.

Down: grey.

Serious faults

Too broad lacing and shafting on the neck-hackle. Reddish, too pale or brownish breast. Too red in the gold-brown feather-parts. Black pattern on the breast. Lack of pattern on the secondary-flights.

Faults

Serious faults to a lesser degree. Vague blurry or lack of pattern at the base of the shoulder-feathers.

Color and pattern female

Head: black, very narrow laced with gold.

Neck: hackle feathers velvety-black with a narrow golden-brown lacing that widens slightly towards the throat; the lower part of the hackle is almost entirely black, front of the neck similar to the breast.

Back, shoulders and saddle: very dark brown with a velvety-black sheen, with a narrow dark-brown lacing and a brilliant gold-yellow shaft, the lacing narrows towards the saddle.

Tail: main-feathers black; support-feathers dark brown-black with gold-brown lacing and gold shaft; coverts very dark-brown with gold-brown lacing and gold shaft.

Wings: coverts similar to the back; lacing broadens towards the wing-flights.

Primary-flights: black.

Secondary-flights: inner-web very dark-brown; outer-web very dark-brown with narrow, not sharply defined, brown at the edge, tip of the feather black.

Breast, belly and thighs: gold-yellow (nanking-yellow); feathers on the sides of the breast, towards the wings and fluff, are very dark-brown with gold-yellow lacing and shaft.

Fluff: light greyish-brown.

Down: grey.

Serious faults

Too broad lacing and shafting on the neck-hackle. Reddish, too pale or brownish breast. Too red in the gold-brown feather areas. Black pattern on the breast. Lack of pattern on the secondary-flights. Too little, too narrow or too broad dark-brown side-lacng on the back, saddle, tail- and wing-coverts or too broad gold-yellow shafts. Too much brown on the wings.