422 . NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXIV. 1917. 



coturnix. Since C. c. coturnix is never found in East Asia, hybrids between it 

 and C. c. japonica do not and cannot occur. 



More difficult than the distinction between the western and eastern races, 

 C. c. coturnix and japonica, are the forms which inhabit Africa and the Atlantic 

 islands. 



According to Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, C. c. africana (his capensis) inhabits " South 

 Africa, south of about 15° S. lat., Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoro Islands, 

 Cape Verd Islands, Canaries, Madeira, and Azores." Ihis would be a most 

 astounding distribution and requires much investigation and alteration. It 

 would mean that the same form inhabited South Africa and the Cape Verd Isles, 

 with no such Quail in an area of 25 degrees of latitude between the two areas, 

 i.e. the Cunene River and the Cape Verd Islands. But, worse luck, the Quail, 

 inhabiting the Cape Verd Islands is not at all of the group of africana ! It is 

 true that there is a male in the British Museum, presented by Bouvier, which 

 belongs to C. c. africana and is labelled as coming from the Cape Verd Isles, but 

 no date and no exact locality is given. I therefore do not accept tliis evidence 

 at all, since more recently Boyd Alexander collected a nice little series on Sao 

 Nicolau and other islands, and caught the downy young, showing that these 

 Quails breed there in November ! Now, these Quails are hardly distinguish- 

 able from the European C. c. coturnix, but they are smaller : wings, S 99-106, 

 ? 100-105 mm., against 104-115 and 106-117 mm. in C. c. coturnix. From the 

 specimens examined I am not able to state constant differences in colour, but 

 it seems that the throat is oftener spotted and the neck above more brownish. 

 I name the Cape Verd Quail : 



Coturnix cohimix inopinata subsp. nov. 



Type: <J ad., Sao Nicolau, 7. xi. 1897, Boyd Alexander coll. (In the 

 Tring Museum.) 



Proceeding northwards, we come next to the Canary Islands. From observa- 

 tions by various ornithologists, it seems certain that the European C. c. coturnix 

 passes through these islands on migration while another form of the africana 

 group is breeding and resident. From the material hitherto examined I am 

 unable to separate the birds from the Canaries from those which inhabit Madeira. 



The Madeira Quail resembles C. c. conturbans, but is larger ; the upperside 

 looks generally lighter, though the rump is in most specimens much darker, 

 blacker, but the light shaft-stripes are wider, the upper wing-coverts darker and 

 not so cinnamon-brown ; the throat shows more white, and in the majority 

 of specimens the middle of the abdomen is lighter and mostly quite white. The 

 wings of Madeiran males measure 106-112, females 107-113 mm., in males from 

 the Canary Islands, 107-110, once 104, once 103 mm. I was, however, only 

 able to examine 3 males and 5 females from Madeira, altogether 9 <J and 3 ? from 

 the Canary Islands, in the British, Tring (2 (J), and Liverpool (1 (j, 1 ? in the 

 Tristram collection) Museums. Some Canary Islands males resemble more C. c. 

 conturbans, especially the male in the Liverpool Museum. There is, as usual 

 in Quails, much variation. 



I name this form : 



