of the Calcutta District. 



75 



Quail. They are always found solitary or iu pairs, and during 

 the breeding-season never stray far from their nests. 



The eggs are laid in April, May, and June, and are either 

 two or four in number, but I have found tiny young ones at 

 the end of October. The nest is always built in some dry 

 situation, among grass or brambles, often at the foot of a 

 bush, and all I have ever found were flimsy domed struc- 

 tures of dry grass with a hole at the side, very like a field- 

 mouse's nest. 



Fig-. 3. 



Cliick of Bustard-Quail {Turnix taigoor) 



I subjoin a description of the chick now figured (fig. 3) : — 

 Throat yellowish white. Top of head mottled brown and pale 

 yellow; cheeks bare and blackish, with lines of tiny white 

 feathers ; a line of white above the eyes, which are brown ; 

 a kind of hood or ruff" of long hairy feathers at back of head. 

 Beak yellowish and black at tip. Breast white, spotted with 

 black. Wings brownish, and, except the primaries, barred 

 with dark and yellowish brown ; back marbled black and 

 yellowish brown, with two lines of white running down it. 

 Tail mottled brown. Flanks and underparts sandy-coloured. 

 Legs and feet grey and shiny ; thighs blackish. 



The females are exceedingly pugnacious, and many are 

 caught by natives in trap-cages, a hen bird being used as a 



