46 FBIENDS OF THE AGRICULTURIST 



to inclusion amongst the useful species, and in a pam- 

 phlet issued by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture in 1905, the economic value of these birds is 

 fully discussed. The following extract from Dr. C. H. 

 Merriam's report admirably sums up the results arrived 

 at: "Investigation shows the birds to be no less im- 

 portant in their economic than in their other relations 

 to man. They are found to be exceedingly valuable 

 allies to agriculture because of the quantity of noxious 

 insects and weed seeds they destroy, while the harm 

 they do is insignificant." 



Judging from own experience of the two species 

 inhabiting South Africa, we should say that this is 

 equally applicable to the local birds. 



Regarding the Quail as a locust destroyer, the inves- 

 tigations of Mr. Thomsen, the Chief Locust Officer of 

 the Transvaal Department of Agriculture, are both 

 instructive and interesting. He considers these little 

 gamebirds " great locust-eaters," and is rightly opposed 

 to their being bagged in hundreds by reckless sportsmen. 



The Cape Quail (Coturnix africana) the Kwartel of 

 the Dutch does not need any description, being too well 

 known throughout the length and breadth of the land. 



It is an irregular migrant, appearing and disappearing 

 very suddenly. 



It lies very close, rising suddenly with a " whirr " of the 

 wings, and after a short but rapid flight settles as suddenly. 



It nests in long grass, or more generally in grain fields, 

 consequently many nests are destroyed by the reapers. 

 The number of eggs in a clutch varies from five to ten, 

 and may occasionally be as many as a dozen ; they are 

 of a yellowish-brown or brownish-yellow colour, some- 

 times spotted, but more generally heavily blotched with 

 liver-brown and pale-brown. 



