It is a small, ground-dwelling bird and is native to mainland Australia, Tasmania and Papua New Guinea and has been introduced to New Zealand and Fiji.

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the brown quail is evaluated as being of "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

It is thought to be the sister species to the Snow Mountain quail (S. monorthonyx), which was previously classified in the genus Anurophasis.

[3][4][5] The following subspecies are recognised:[6] The brown quail is a plump, stocky bird which can grow up to a length of 17 to 22 centimetres (6+1⁄2 to 8+1⁄2 in) and weight of 75 to 140 grams (2+3⁄4 to 5 oz).

[9][10] The brown quail is distributed in agricultural areas, wet grasslands, shrublands, spinifex savannah, and freshwater wetlands across much of New Guinea and the Lesser Sunda Islands as well as in northern, eastern, south-eastern and south-western Australia and Tasmania, though absent from arid regions.

[1] The Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land call this bird djirndih, djiribbidj or merhmerh (all quails).