EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 277 



north of France, but in South and Central France is abundant 

 and generally distributed. 



The nest of this bird is made upon the ground amongst the tall 

 grass in a hedge-bottom or in the growing crops, and consists 

 merely of a few bits of dry grass and withered leaves arranged 

 in a little hollow. Mr. J. Cullingford informs me that it often 

 makes its nest amongst the thatch of stacks or on the ground 

 by the road side. 



The eggs vary from ten to eighteen in number, and are 

 deposited by the latter end of April or early in May. They are 

 pale buff or stone-colour, speckled, spotted, and blotched with 

 yellowish or light chocolate brown, and some eggs are much more 

 thickly spotted than others. The shell is thick and strong, finely 

 pitted, and shows considerable gloss. They vary in length from 

 1'6 to 1*5 inch, and in breadth from 1*25 to 1*15 inch. 



THE COMMON QUAIL. 

 ( Co turnix co mmui lis.) 



Plate 59, Figs. 1, 3. 



The Quail breeds throughout the British Islands, including 

 the Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys and Shetlands, but is nowhere 

 common. It is found over the greater part of Europe and Asia. 



The nest scarcely merits the name, for it is only a slight hollow 

 scratched in the ground, in which are gathered a few withered 

 bits of herbage or a dead leaf or two. Some nests contain as 

 many as twenty eggs, others only sixteen, and frequently only 

 eight or twelve are found. 



The eggs of the Quail are very handsome, varying in ground- 

 colour from creamy -white or buff to yellowish-olive, boldly 

 blotched and spotted with olive-brown and rich blackish-brown. 

 Some eggs are far more thickly blotched than others, many of 

 the markings being confluent ; others are sparingly marked with 

 large spots and numerous paler and smaller blotches ; less fre- 

 quently they are minutely and evenly speckled over the entire 

 surface with spots of very dark brown, with here and there large 

 round portions of the ground-colour appearing as if the colour 

 had been accidentally rubbed off. They vary in length from 1'2 

 to 1"1 inch, and in breadth from 092 to 0'82 inch. 



