7 LIEUT.-COLONEL SYKES ON THE 
be careful to point out exceptions and limitations. M. Temminck, in his preliminary 
observations on the true Tetraones, says, ‘‘ Ils différent en cela des francolins, des colins, 
et des cailles qui sont oiseaux voyageurs.”' Again he says, ‘‘ Les cailles vivent la plu- 
part du temps solitaires ; les jeunes se separent desqu’ils se sentent n’avoir plus besoin 
de la protection des parens ; mais un méme instinct les réunit subitement en association 
nombreuse, ce qui a lieu vers le temps de leur migration.”? These observations are appli- 
cable to a single species, Cot. dactylisonans, and with limitation even to this single species. 
I have compared the common Quail of Europe with specimens from China, from several 
parts of India, and from the Cape of Good Hope, and am clearly of opinion that they 
all belong to the same species ; and others have thought the same before me. The only 
differences I could discover were in the transverse marks on the throat being more or 
less distinct, the minute spots on the breast more or less numerous, and the colours of 
the back of the Chinese Quail being brighter than in the other specimens. Numerous 
specimens varied also a little in size, as is the case equally in European individuals : yet 
this species, which is migratory in Europe, and which visits the coasts of France and 
Italy in such incredible numbers, M. Temminck admits to be stationary in the Isle of 
Roben at the Cape; and I can testify, from more than twenty-two years’ residence in 
India, that it is found at all times in Dukhun and Goojrat: it is probable that it is also 
stationary in China. With respect to other species of Quails, we have not any satis- 
factory accounts that they are migratory ; for though M. Temminck, on the authority, 
I believe, of Sonnerat, says that Cot. perlata, a native of Madagascar, goes to the 
eastern shores of Africa, yet as so little of the bird is known that the female remains 
to be described, it is not unfair to infer that the account of its habits is problematical. 
As far as my knowledge extends, none of the Quails described in the following pages 
are migratory from India. 
With respect to other habits of Quails, M. Temminck says, ‘‘ Les cailles vivent la 
plupart du temps solitaires.”? Again, “Les cailles sont des oiseaux peu sociables ; le 
male aprés avoir fécondé la femelle s’en éloigne pour toujours.”4 And further he says, 
‘“‘Hormis le temps de l’accouplement ou du voyage on voit rarement deux cailles ré- 
unies dans un méme endroit.”® Unquestionably the above-described habits, together 
with M. Temminck’s account of the monogamous character of Quails, are correctly appli- 
cable to the species Cot. dactylisonans ; but my observation would not justify me in saying 
that they are applicable to the species tewtilis, Argoondah, Pentah, and erythrorhyncha, 
the last three of which are certainly always gregarious, and I fully believe polygamous. 
Even with respect to the first-mentioned species, the statement must be received cum 
grano salis : for it is notorious to all sportsmen in India, that when one Quail is flushed, 
a second is within a few paces ; and as I have known thirty brace of Cot. tewtilis killed 
for a wager in one field of Phaseolus Maz, within an hour and a half, it might hence 
} tom. iii. p. 106. 2 pp. 107, 108. 3 p. 107. + p. 464. 5 p. 108. 
