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Shattered, quails bobbing head to devour pastry (2,6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

in pieces

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'shattered' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'quails bobbing head to devour pastry' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'pastry' could be 'pie' (pie is a kind of pastry) and 'pie' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for in pieces that I've seen is " shattered".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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