rOMBION QUAIL. 861 



a species with tubercles is) in India ; and it is not likely the 

 people would warm their hands with it, as is said to be the 

 case in China. 



From some experience I consider Quails very heating 

 food ; and it is probable the French proverb, " hot as a 

 Quail," may apply rather to its stimulating properties than 

 to its animal heat." 



The adult male has the beak brownish grey ; the irides 

 hazel ; top of the head dark brown, with a pale wood brown 

 streak from the base of the beak on each side over the eye 

 and the ear-coverts, and a narrow streak of the same colour 

 over the crown of the head to the nape of the neck ; the 

 plumage of the back, wings, rump, and tail brown, with 

 lighter-coloured shafts and longitudinal streaks of wood- 

 brown ; wing-primaries dusky brown, mottled watli light 

 brown ; chin and throat white, bounded by two half-circular 

 dark brown bands descending from the ear-coverts, and with 

 a black patch at the bottom in front ; breast pale chestnut 

 brown with the shafts of the feathers straw colour ; lower part 

 of the breiist, the belly, vent, and under tail-coverts, yellow- 

 ish white ; the flanks streaked with pale chestnut ; legs, toes, 

 and claws pale brown. 



The whole length seven inches. The wing from the carpal 

 joint to the end four inches and a half: the first feather a 

 very little longer than the third, but a little shorter than the 

 second, which is the longest in the wing ; the form of the 

 wing is therefore pointed. 



The female has no dark half circular marks descending 

 down the sides of the neck, nor the black patch in front ; but 

 the feathers on her breast are strongly marked with a small 

 dark spot on each side of the light straw-coloured shaft. 



The young birds of the year resemble the adult female. 

 The young males do not acquire the black patch on the 

 front of the neck till their second year. 



