The bird I am now reporting some pictures below is a female and its coloring is quite exceptional insofar as I have never seen or produced similar before.
Initially, it was a rather pale brown US-Redbreasted bird.
As the most expert among us know it well: the palette of shades of brown is rather wide in the Chinese painted quail species.
This is undoubtedly less known, but there are also brown birds that are referred to as the ‘grey form’. This is reported by a well-known American specialist, but I can’t remember exactly if it is from Jody Mc Donald’s pen or that from Garrie J. Landry.
What I noticed, is that this bird has evolved after its first moult, and besides the development of red feathers at the base of the tail (which is generally an attribute specific to males) the coloring of its back has changed, turning to silver.
For now, I don’t know if this should be the expression of the ‘grey form’ of the brown on a US Red-breasted phenotype.
The impression I have is of an opal-bird like in the Common chaffinch,
or an ivory bird (brown + silver) where the hues would not have mixed together well but rather assembled.
We can see brown areas and gray areas, it does not look at all like a classic ivory female like those dozens I produce every year.
Personally, I find this aesthetically beautiful female.
I just hope that it is not (yet) a female that is changing color and that she will stay like that because this color change phenomenon occurs more and more frequently in my breeding!
How God creates wonders… Enjoy!
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