The first scientist to describe it was Sir Joseph Banks when he visited New Zealand on James Cook's first voyage.

Terrestrial and temperate, this species inhabited lowland tussock grassland and open fernlands.

[3] The first specimen to be obtained by a European was collected in 1827 by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard on Dumont D'Urville's voyage.

Research was conducted between 2007 and 2009 into whether the quails on Tiritiri Matangi Island – which was spared the worst impact of introduced predators – might be a surviving population of this species, or koreke-brown quail (Synoicus ypsilophora) hybrids.

[5] Sequences were derived for all quail species within the Australian and New Zealand Coturnix sp.