GAME-BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



Quail are most plentiful on cultivated lands that have 

 been allowed to become fallow and covered with weeds, but 

 they are also common enough among mealies and other crops. 



About May the greater part of the Quail have bred and 

 they then migrate, but there are always a few stragglers to 

 be found in suitable cover. 



Quail feed chiefly on grass and weed seeds, the crops of 

 those I examined at Potchefstroom being crammed with a 

 small black seed about the size of No. 8 shot and a few termites 

 and insects. Those I had in captivity were very fond of live 

 termites and always met me at the aviary door when a bucket- 

 full of ant-heap was brought to them. 



They fly swiftly and rise with the usual game-bird rush, 

 uttering a cry like " Pree-pree-pree." Shooting them is 

 rather monotonous if the cover be low and if the birds are 

 plentiful, but they often give rather sporting shots when 

 flushed in high mealies (maize), and a good spaniel with a 

 tender mouth is then invaluable. 



Quail when shot should not be hung, as they decompose 

 quickly. An excellent recipe for cookmg them is to place 

 a green chili inside the bird after drawing it, then to wrap a 

 piece of fat bacon round it and a green vine leaf round the 

 whole, and roast fairly quickly. So cooked they are 

 appetizing to a degree. 



They lay from six to twelve eggs in a little grass-lined 

 hoUow, sometimes in grass and sometimes under the shelter 

 of a big weed or a small bush. The eggs are indistinguishable 

 from those of the European Quail (C. commimis), and are 

 bright yellowish-brown, flecked and marked with dark brown 

 spots and splashes, and are sometimes very handsome. 



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