QUAILS 153 



westward extends to the Outer Hebrides, where the 

 nest has been found in Lewis and North Uist. In 

 Sept. 1900, Mr. Eagle Clarke unexpectedly found a 

 nest with eggs of this bird in Shetland. As the 

 Quail feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of weeds, 

 such as plantain, persicaria, dock, wild vetch, and 

 chickweed, it is a good friend to the farmer and 

 ought everywhere to be encouraged. 



The number of Quails met with by Partridge- 

 shooters in England and Ireland has of late years 

 diminished very considerably, and there can be no 

 doubt that this is mainly due to the wholesale 

 manner in which they are netted for the markets in 

 spring along the Mediterranean coast, when on their 

 passage from North Africa to their breeding haunts 

 in Europe. If the netting of Quails and the shoot- 

 ing of Woodcocks in spring were prohibited by 

 international law, the sportsmen of Europe would 

 be vastly benefited, and so would the farmers. As 

 to turning out Quails in England to increase the 

 stock, see The Field, May 23, 1891. 



VIRGINIAN QUAIL. Ortyx virginianus (Linngeus). 

 Length, 8-5 in. ; wing, 4-5 in. ; tarsus, 1-25 in. 



This bird, a native of the Eastern United States, 

 can only be regarded as an introduced species. 

 Early in the present century several pairs Avere 

 turned out in Norfolk at Holkham by the Earl of 

 Leicester (Stevenson, " Birds of Norfolk," vol. i. p. 

 436); and in 1833 many were introduced at Ted- 

 desley in Staffordshire by Mr. E. J. Littleton, M.P. 



