The Mystery of the Poisonous Quail
The real mystery is why people keep eating quail on the toxic migratory routes
Coturnix quail are pretty adorable little creatures. Tasty, too. Except that sometimes they can poison and kill you. In fact, this problem is so common that it has been given a name: coturnism. I expect it to show up on an episode of "House M.D." any day now.
Coturnism only happens with wild quail, and only those in the Old World. There are several species of Coturnix quail which migrate between Africa and Europe every year. They travel north to Europe in the spring, and south to Africa in the fall. These days their migrations are greatly reduced in numbers, due to habitat loss and overhunting. But hundreds of years ago, the coturnix migration was truly astounding, massive flocks moving past. Who could resist hunting and eating a few of the round, plump little birds?
