THE QUAILS. 183 



or beaters are worse than useless, and where the game is so 

 plentiful, search after a wounded bird is seldom thought worth 

 the trouble. It is usual to be provided with two or three 

 guns,* to be loaded, as fast as emptied, by a servant. With 

 one gun only it would be necessary to wash out the barrels 

 two or three times in the course of the afternoon, or at all 

 events to wait every now and then for them to cool. A toler- 

 ably good shot will bag fifty to sixty brace in about three 

 hours, and knock down many others that are not found. I re- 

 member one day getting into a deyra, or island formed by 

 alluvial deposit, in the Ganges, between Patna (Bankipore) and 

 Sonepore, which was sown almost entirely over with gram 

 (chunna), and which literally swarmed with Quail. 1 do 

 not exaggerate when I say they were like locusts in number. 

 Every step that brushed the covert sent off a number of them, 

 so that I had to stand every now and then like a statue and 

 employ my arms only, and that in a stealthy manner, for the 

 purpose of loading and firing. A furtive scratch of the head, 

 or a wipe of the heated brow, dismissed a whole " bevy " into 

 the next field ; and, in fact, the embarras de richesse was nearly 

 as bad as if there had been no birds at all." 



Best. — A slight hollow in the ground, with little or no lining, 

 and sheltered by standing crops or grass, &c. 



Eggs. — Eight to twelve in number, sometimes more are laid ; 

 creamy-white or buff, more or less boldly blotched and spotted 

 with rich brown. Average measurements, 1*15 by o"88. 



SUB-SP. a. THE CAPE QUAIL. COTURNIX CAPENSIS. 



Cotumix caftensis, Licht. fide Gray, Hand!. B. ii. p. 268 

 (1870); Ogilvie-Grant, Ann. Mag. N. H. (6), ix. pp. 167, 

 169, 170 (1892); id. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. pp. 235, 237 



(1893)- 



Adult Male. — Differs from the male of typical C. cotumix in 

 having the sides of the head, chin, and throat bright rufous- 

 * lie refers to the days before breech-loaders came in. 



