The Golden Pearl Button Quail
© 1977 Poule d'eau Publishing
Golden Pearl, appears to be the most recent mutation of those we imported. When we obtained our stock out of England in 1991, this mutation was completely new to the British breeders, and, consequently, we had a very difficult time locating any to purchase. When our buyer was searching for Golden Pearl to purchase for us, virtually all of the breeders he spoke with had never seen one, they had only heard that the new mutation existed. Eventually our buyer did locate them. He was only able to purchase a single pair, and believe it or not, every Pearl Button Quail in the US is descended from that one pair of birds we imported.
At a glance mature Golden Pearl males are easily mistaken for normals. Look carefully at the right photo of the male Golden Pearl. You can faintly detect the pearls remaining on the back. Golden Pearl females (photo on the left) are bright straw yellow with prominent black penciling on each feather. Some individuals can be darker, nearly brown, but the penciling is still distinct from the normal. The Golden Pearl is also a dominant mutation but different in its genetics than the Blue face. It only occurs as a single factor trait. In other words, a Golden Pearl only has one gene for the mutation, never two. It is not possible to breed 100% Golden Pearls with any combination of matings. The photo of the above Golden Pearl Male looks quite similar to a normal Button male. The difference being that the male Golden Pearl has a row of pearled feathers down the back and rump, these are barely visible in this photo if you look closely at the center of the males back. The pearled feathers are easily seen from above rather than the side. Additionally, male Golden Pearls are slightly lighter over all when compared to a Normal
We have produced the following combination with Golden Pearl.
