COMMON QUAIL. 



35^ 



RASORES. 



TETRAONIDX. 



THE COMMON QUAIL. 



Perdix coturnix, The Quail, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 366. 



Tetrao ,, 



Coturnix vulgaris, 

 Perdix coturnix. 



Common 



Coturnix dactylisojians, ,, , 



Perdix cotzirnix, La caille, 



Mont. Ornith. Diet. 



Bewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 361. 



Flem. Brit. An. p. 45. 



Selbv, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 437. 



Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 174. 



GovLD, Birds of Europe, pt. xiii. 



Temm. Man. d'Ornith. vol. ii. p. 491. 



Coturnix. Generic Characters. — Beak strong, shorter than the head, upper 

 mandible curved. Nostrils basal, lateral, half closed by an arched membrane. 

 Feet with four toes, those anterior connected by a membrane as far as the first 

 articulation. Tail short, rounded, recumbent, almost hid by the tail-coverts. 



Our British Quail belongs to tliat section of the genus 

 Coturnix designated by Colonel Sykes* as having the upper 



* Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ii. page 1. 



