220 GALLIFORMES CHAP. 
surface is buff, with black chevrons in younger birds. The 
female lacks the grey tints, and is more coarsely barred with 
black. Gould describes the habits and call as resembling those 
of the Common Partridge, but they are better exemplified by 
those of Hxcalphatoria, while the eggs vary from ten to fourteen, 
and are creamy or greenish-white, generally closely freckled with 
brown. 8S. raaltent of Timor and Flores has a rufous throat. 
Of the true Quails six species may be admitted.  Coturnix 
communis, the Common Quail, though essentially a migrant in 
the north, ranges throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa, and 
breeds not uncommonly in Britain, having also been introduced 
into the Eastern United States; while another African race (C. 
capensis auctt.) only differs in its reddish throat. The crown is 
dark brown with a ight streak down the centre and above each 
eye; the upper parts are brown and black with buff longi- 
tudinal stripes, becoming mottlings on the remiges; the throat is 
white with a black median patch connected with the ear-coverts 
by two upcurved lines: the breast is reddish-buff, the abdomen 
yellowish-white, the flanks are mottled or barred with brown. 
The short tail of ten or twelve feathers lies entirely below the 
coverts. The hen-bird has black pectoral spots and a perfectly 
white throat. C. japonica of East Asia and Japan, occasionally 
found in Bhutan and Burma, has a plain brick-red throat, the 
sides of which and the chin exhibit lanceolate feathers in the 
female. Hybrids between this species and the Common Quail 
occur where their ranges overlap; individuals, moreover, present 
great variation. C. coromandelica of India and the Burmese 
countries, C. delegorguii of the Ethiopian Region, C. pectoralis of 
Austraha and Tasmania, and the nearly extinct C. novae zealandiae 
of New Zealand, have the outer webs of the primaries uniform 
brown in both sexes; the males of the first two have the throat 
as in C. communis, with a black patch on the breast, and buff and 
chestnut under parts respectively ; the third has the throat plain 
brick-coloured ; and the fourth still brighter red. The females 
have no throat-mark, the hen of @. delegorguii being blackish- 
brown above,.and that of C. pectoralis shewing black chest-bands, 
which in C. novae zealandiae cover most of the feathers. That 
Quails can traverse long distances is evidenced by the migration 
of large flocks in spring and autumn; but, as a rule, their flight is 
short, and they rise with great reluctance, though with considerable 
