1896.] 



Moffat. — The Quail in Ireland. 



205 



attachment to a particular spot seems singular in the case of a 

 bird which comes to us only at irregular intervals. 



The general similarity which subsists between 1896 and 1893 

 does not extend to 1892, but the three Quail-years resemble 

 one another in the unusual dryness of their spring months — 

 March, April, and May. I extract from the Ballyhyland 

 register the following figures, showing the rainfall here for 

 each of the spring months for the past twenty years : — 



* Indicates the Quail-years. 



The above figures as they stand show that the springs of 

 '93 and '96 were the driest of the series, and that, ;w^ith the sole 

 exception of the Jubilee year (1887), the remaining Quail-year, 

 '92, ranks next. On the whole, they favour the view that 

 unusual drought in spring directs the flight of Coturnix cofn- 

 viunis towards this island ; but it may be objected that on this 

 hypothesis we ought to have had Quails in the 3^ear of Her 

 Majesty's Jubilee, when, if they came to us, they certainly 

 attracted no special notice. 



The similarity in the rain-gauge results for my three Quail- 

 years is, however, far from being fully brought out by the above 

 table ; for, on looking closer, I find that in each of those years 

 the greater part of what rainfall we had was enjoyed either 

 early in March or late in May. Now, supposing that the 

 Quail, which crosses the Mediterranean in April, has to select' 

 its breeding ground in our latitude by about the middle of 



