604 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
to them. Some Quails remain with us all the year round. On Robben 
Island, for instance, ten or twelve brace may be shot any day in the 
year. Why they should choose this barren spot, eight or ten miles from 
land, in the mouth of Table Bay, I cannot conceive. The farmers 
declare that every seven years the numbers of Quail exceed those 
that visit us during the intermediate six. During one of these 
“years of plenty,” we bagged forty brace in one day, and lost many 
more. 
It oceurs near Port Elizabeth and Hast London, according to 
Mr. Rickard, and we found it common near Grahamstown in March, 
1870. Captain Trevelyan writes :—‘The Common Quail is sup- 
posed to arrive about Kingwilliamstown in August, September, or 
October. I fancy, however, that their arrival depends to a very 
great extent on the rains. In the rainy season of 1873 there was no 
rain to speak of, but in January and February, 1874, fine rains fell. 
The Quails came in great numbers, and I had the best shooting I ever 
had in the colony.” In another letter the same gentleman observes : 
—‘ The Quail comes to the lands about Kingwilliamstown as a rule 
during the months of September, October, and November, and 
remains about a month or six weeks. In 1872 they arrived about 
the beginning of October, and left at the beginning of the following 
month. 1873 was an exceptional year; there appeared to be a 
kind of false flight in July, but the regular flight did not put in an 
appearance till January, 1874 (the rains did not come till about this 
time).” 
The following note is given by Majors Butler and Feilden aud 
Captain Reid :—“ Without attempting to explain the migrations of 
this well-known bird, as far as Natal is concerned, we will merely 
give in detail the various occurrences that came under our notice. 
Reid saw five at Sunday’s River, on the 6th May ; Lieut. Giffard 
saw one near the Leo Cop Mountain, on the 9th July; Butler shot 
one near Newcastle about the same date; they appeared in consider- 
able numbers in the district early in October, when many specimens 
were obtained; and in the Maritzburg country they were simply 
swarming in November and December. As many as one hundred 
couple were shot here in one day by a party (though they were 
breeding abundantly at the time). On the 2nd December, Colonel 
Russell, 14th Hussars, informs us, his dogs flushed two sitting birds 
from nests containing eggs. Are these the birds that breed in 
eNOS —————— 
