C. coturnix and C. japonica

Hi,
This is propably a silly question but...
I was just looking around on google at pictures of Coturnix coturnix (the European common quail) and Coturnix japonica (Japs) and I was wondering is there actually any difference in the appearance of these two species?
If there isn't how do we know that our birds are infact japs and not European ones that were caught years ago... ?
I guess it wouldn't really make much difference but I was just curious

Jen

They are subspecies and can interbreed. I suspect that what we have in captivity are a mix of the European, Eurasian and Japanese populations.

You can probably notice some slight morphological differences in wild caught birds

Most web sites tend to use stock images of captive birds.

Thanks Andy,
I've been reading more and you are right they do breed fine in captivity but not in the wild... I'm guessing because they live in different areas mostly?
Well mine are still the cutest little things!
One of them laid their first white egg yesterday, I was so proud of it as it was such a pure white but my housemate broke it and they have all been normal coloured since.

Like any species that is fairly widely distributed (e.g. black bears have 16 subspecies, including the Kermode "ghost" bear and Cinnamon bear), breeding groups become isolated and regional differences appear in these population and can eventually evolve into a different species (Speciation).

I'm not sure what the migratory paths are for Coturnix, but I'm guessing the European and Eurasian populations can meet up in Africa in winter, while Japanese and Eurasian populations meet up in central Asia? (Himalayas are quite a barrier) It's hard to imagine Coturnix travelling great distances though. They aren't terribly good flyers.

Yeh we learn about that kinda stuff in on my course...well we are meant to lol
To be honest, I find it hard to imagine Japs in the wild at all, yesterday Rose got a piece of hay stuck to her chest and freaked out until I finally came and released her don't know what she would have done otherwise lol.

I know what you mean, mine are really dumb. I wonder if wild birds have more smarts. Either that or they breed like rabbits!