310 THE BIRDS OF NOBTHAMPTONSHIRE 



valuable and handsome acquisition to our British 

 game birds, and it is, with the exception of the 

 various species of the Pheasant family, the only 

 artificially introduced bird of any exotic species which 

 has become thoroughly acclimatized and thrives at 

 large in our country. Our climate and soil would 

 not suit the Greek Partridge, and the Barbary bird 

 we can dispense with, but we are convinced that 

 there are many species valuable from a sporting and 

 a gastronomic point of view which might with care 

 and attention become common in our Islands ; we 

 would especially recommend the genera Tefrao and 

 Francolinus to the attention of acclimatizers. 



124. COMMON QUAIL 



CoturnLv vulgaris. 



This sj)ecies, which appears, from the accounts of 

 old sportsmen and partly from our own recollection, 

 not to have been uncommon in our county in the 

 first half of the present century, has become decidedly 

 scarce with us now, though few seasons pass in 

 which we do not hear of its occurrence. Morton 

 writes of the Quail as follows : — " Of the Quail, a 

 Bird of Passage — I have only to note, that it comes 

 into the sandy and warmer soil, {e. gr.) on the 

 Northampton side, and near Rowel, and is to be met 

 with there, at least a Fortnight before it settles in 

 the colder Clayey Part of the County." From the 

 above passage it is evident that the author quoted 

 regarded the Quail as a regular visitor to the county, 

 and we well recollect an old gamekeeper who had 

 lived in the service of my grandfather, my father, and 



