They're precocial, able to run about and feed themselves soon after they dry, and they usually leave the nest the day they hatch. Chicks are fuzzy, buff beneath and mottled chestnut brown above, with a dark streak extending back from each eye. The parents brood their young, sitting on top of them at night and during heavy rain. Chicks instinctively squat and remain still at a danger signal given by an adult, and their brown natal down is good camouflage. Foxes, weasels, hawks and stray cats take their toll, but hard, driving rain and cold weather are probably more serious threats during the first few days.
Young birds develop rapidly.
When two weeks old, they can fly short distances, and by 10 weeks of age they have most of the speed and agility of their parents. Birds of the year have pale tips on their outer primary coverts, or wing feathers, while the same feather is uniformly gray on an adult. Parents and young stay together all summer. Winter is a harsh season for quail. Food is scarce, especially when snow crusts over ground and plants.