The buttonquail family (Turnicidae) is one of the least studied bird groups of the world. Among them, the nominate subspecies of the Small Buttonquail (Turnix sylvaticus), widely known as Andalusian Buttonquail, formerly occurred along the western Mediterranean countries in both European (Italy, Spain & Portugal) and African (from Libya to Morocco) shores. Starting from a global review of the knowledge status of the whole family, we will focus on the recent history and status of this critically endangered taxon. Based on museum specimen data and historic literature we will reconstruct the former distribution area and then study the long-term changes in land use and the environmental drivers that can explain the large decline of the species along the XX century. Then an assessment of the demography status and habitat selection of the last remnant population that still exist in Morocco will be done as well as a description on the breeding biology and the natural history if this population.