- any of several true quails of the genus Colinus, family Odontophoridae, including C. virginianus(northern bobwhite ), distributed through much of the Americas, having mottled reddish-brown, black, and white plumage: the bobwhite gets its name from its whistling call, which sweeps upward in pitch as an easily discernible “bob-white.”
- a brown North American quail, Colinus virginianus, the male of which has white markings on the head: a popular game bird
