Small bird of the partridge family (5)
I believe the answer is:
quail
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">small bird of the partridge family</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for quail that I've seen before include "Flinch from small gamebird?" , "Game bird; flinch" , "Shrink; a bird" , "Small bird of the partridge family" , "Show fear - of small game bird?" .)