106 COMMON QUAIL. 



to be generally distributed over the old world, though, 

 in the south of Europe, it is perhaps more abundant 

 than elsewhere. In Britain they may now be term- 

 ed only an occasional visitant, the numbers of those 

 which arrive to breed having considerably decreased, 

 and they are to be met, with certainty, only in some of 

 the warmer southern or midland counties of England. 

 Thirty years since they were tolerably common and 

 regular in their returns ; and, even in the south of 

 Scotland, a few broods were occasionally to be found. 

 Mr. Macgillivray mentions its occurrence in Moray- 

 shire, and of having received a nest and eggs from 

 Aberdeenshire.* Its occurrence farther north has 

 not been recorded. In these same districts they are 

 now very uncertain ; we have known of broods only 

 twice, and occasionally have shot a straggler appa- 

 rently on its way to the south. In Ireland the 

 Quail seems to be more abundant than in any parts 

 of Britain ; and according to notes by Mr. Thompson, 

 they have of late years remained permanently in the 

 north, and in winter have occurred in considerable 

 numbers. In the winter of 1836-7, a gentleman 

 shot, in one day, ten brace of Quails, in stubble 

 fields bordering Belfast Bay.f They are extremely 

 difficult to flush after the first time. The nest is 

 made by the female, but, like the partridges, the 

 eggs are deposited almost on the bare ground ; 

 these, also, unlike the uniform tint which we find 

 prevailing in those of the true partridges, are deeply 



* Brit. Birds. 3. p. 237. 

 f Annals of Nat. History, iv. p. 284. 



