108 COMMON QUAIL* 



they are also very abundant, performing regular 

 migrations from the interior to the coast. It is 

 thus seen that the geographical range of this bird 

 is of great extent, reaching northward to Russia 

 and Scandinavia,* found in the intermediate coun- 

 tries of temperate heat, and abounding in continental 

 India and Africa. We possess specimens which 

 do not materially differ from each other, from 

 Madeira, alpine India, the plains of India, China, 

 Cape of Good Hope, and southern Europe. A 

 specimen shot at Jardine Hall, in autumn, has the 

 crown nearly black, the feathers edged with pale 

 chestnut, streaks of ochre-yellow run over each eye, 

 and the centre space between the eyes and bill, and 

 auriculars, are chestnut. Colour of the upper parts 

 black, having the shafts and a lanceolate mark in the 

 centre of each, ochreous-yellow, palest at the tip, 

 where the wings join the body ; the central mark- 

 ings are wanting, and the black is relieved by grey 

 tips and wavy bars of sienna-yellow ; throat, pale 

 ochreous-yellow, bounded by a deep blackish-brown 

 gorget, and on the sides cut into by a dark stripe of 

 the same colour, running from the gape, and curving 

 inwards near the middle of the pale space ; breast, 

 yellowish wood-brown, shading into pale ochreous 

 on the lower parts ; on the breast, the feathers are 

 marked with two round or oval spots, on the exterior 

 of each web; on the flanks these patches border 

 each feather irregularly, bounding a pale open space 

 along the shafts, which is nearly pure white. The 

 * Yarrell. 



