Yes and no.

My city has a separate license for game birds (like quail) vs chickens. But my city also allows chickens if you get 1/10 permits (I got one so I can start my flock, because I have a unique town property that isn’t flanked by residential, and thus barely qualified for it, with permission from my one neighbor)

Quail are mostly quiet tho so if you keep them inside, nobody will know other than a male screaming now and then, but it’s not a noise people would recognize (it sounds like he’s drowning, honestly, it’s loud enough I can hear it from upstairs, and it scares the shit out of my cats, but it doesn’t sound like a bird crowing in the same way a rooster does.)

Mostly they sound like frogs. I’m not at all joking. There’s a super solid chance all the native frog ribbit sounds I heard growing up along a waterfront were quail and not bullfrogs. Largely the same sound.

So yeah you could easily keep a small\medium covey with nobody knowing. Probably a few dozen birds easily if you wanted. I’m sort of doing that now because I don’t want my entire house to be inspected by the city and I don’t want to keep them outside (infections happen in nature), meaning they aren’t a game bird, but a pet. But a license for them would be $5 since I’m already approved for chickens, so it’s sort of meh for my situation, I just choose to skirt the law. And literally none of the people who want to buy my eggs are going to say shit about it, because eggs are -so expensive-

They need about 3sqft each bird to be happy and comfortable, multiple floors made of boxes or wire mesh are fine if the route is big enough for them (I use bricks, they work well)

They lay eggs wherever they feel, I give them a nesting box but they don’t usually lay in it. Basically it’s just a big poo for them, they aren’t really broody or anything, and they don’t mind you taking their eggs. Most they do if you handle them is try to scratch you with their big dumb chicken feet.