Seeing a quail
A quail scurrying across a path belongs to a species that survives by sticking together: at night a covey of bobwhites sleeps in a tight ring, tails in and heads out. Old European farmers counted quail calls to forecast grain prices.
What it may mean
When night falls, a covey of northern bobwhites settles on the ground in a small, tight circle, tails pressed together in the middle and heads pointing out like the spokes of a wheel. The ring keeps a dozen small bodies warm on a cold night, and every direction is watched by someone. If a fox comes, the whole circle bursts outward at once. It is an old and practical kind of togetherness: close enough to share warmth, each one facing the world on behalf of the rest. A quail scurrying across a path, or calling its name from a fence line, makes you think of your own ring of people: who keeps you warm on hard nights, and which direction you watch for them.
Depending on how you saw it
A bobwhite calling its name
The clear whistled "bob-WHITE" carries across fields in spring and summer. Old weather lore held that the call foretold more rain, while the softer reply, called "Mrs. Bob White," said the wet spell was over. Which familiar sound in your day tells you something only you have learned to hear?
A covey exploding out of the grass
Quail tend to freeze until you are almost on top of them, then burst into the air all at once with a roar of wings, enough to make anyone jump. The scare is their defense working. Which plan of yours worked only because everyone moved at the same moment?
Chicks following in a line
Quail chicks leave the nest within hours of hatching and follow their parents in a tight line, already feeding themselves. They learn by walking behind. Whose steps did you follow most closely when you were starting out?
Counting a quail's calls
In France the quail was called the bird of prophecy, and farmers there and in Swabia counted its calls to guess the coming price of grain. In Tyrol the count gave the years until marriage. Which small sign do you catch yourself counting, half in jest?
Why it happens in nature
Quail are small, round ground birds that live in family groups called coveys and rely on camouflage, freezing until danger is close and then bursting into flight. Northern bobwhites roost at night in a tight ring with tails together and heads pointing outward, which saves body heat and lets the whole group take off in every direction at once.
What folk beliefs say
France
In France, a 1903 collection says, the quail was called the bird of prophecy: if it called twice without resting, people expected wheat at two francs a bushel, and if four times, twice as much.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 886. View the page
Germany (Swabia)
In Swabia, the quail's cry was taken as a sign of the price of corn: three cries would put it at three gulden a bushel.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 682. View the page
Tyrol (Austria and Italy)
In Tyrol, the number of cries of a quail was taken as the number of years the hearer would remain unmarried.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 682. View the page
Seminole (Florida)
Among the Seminole, the same page says, a quail perching on the cabin was taken as a warning of death, and the person inside prepared for it.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 682. View the page
To reflect on
Who forms your ring on a hard night, and which direction do you watch for them?