QUAIL 



found in herds of from ten to a hundred, but often 

 seen in troops of many hundreds on the plains of 

 the Orange Free State and Cape Colony, and often 

 associated with the white-tailed gnu, not seldom 

 with ostriches. The quagga was swift and endur- 

 ing, but could be run down by a first-rate horse. 

 Its extinction was mainly wrought by the Orange 

 Free State and Transvaal Boers, who slew thou- 

 sands annually for their skins. In the old days it 

 was tamed with success, was more tractable than 

 the zebra, and even bred in captivity. The term 



?uagga is a corruption of the old Hottentot name 

 uacha, bestowed in imitation of the peculiar bark- 

 ing neigh of this quadruped. The quagga is not to 

 be confounded with Burchell's zebra, which is often 

 erroneously called quagga by hunters of the South 

 African interior. 



Quail (Cotumix), an Old- World genus of the 

 Partridge family ( Perdicidte ), ranging over the 

 temperate Pal.-earctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental 

 regions, and in the Australian region to New 

 Zealand. The quails are the smallest of the par- 

 tridge family. Six species are described in this 

 restricted genus. The best known is the Common 

 Quail (Coturnix communis). In size it is about 

 74 inches long ; the general colour above is brown, 

 varied with buff, and on the under parts buff. 

 The male U Somewhat smaller in size, is brighter, 

 and has a reddish throat and two dark-brown 

 bands descending from the ear-coverts and ending 

 at the throat in a blackish patch acquired at the 

 second year. Quails fly rapidly, and take long 



and fatiguing 

 1 journeys. Im- 

 mense flocks 

 I visit the coun- 

 i tries bordering 

 the Mediter- 

 ] ranean, especi- 

 I ally during the 

 8 spring emigra- 

 tion ; and they 

 I are caught for 

 I food in large 

 numbers 17,000 

 have been 

 brought to 

 | Rome in one 

 I day, and in the 

 small island of 

 Common Quail (Coturnix rulgarit). Capri, in the 



Bay of Naples, 



over 160,000 have l>een netted in a single season. 

 Many remain to breed, but the majority pass north- 

 wants. In England quails are spring visitors ; they 

 are becoming scarcer, but at times there is a great 

 influx. Northwards the numbers are fewer, but 

 nests have been found in the northernmost main- 

 land of Scotland, and in the Orkneys, Shetlands, 

 and Outer Hebrides, and in summer they reach the 

 Faroe Islands. A few remain on the south-west 

 coast of England and in Ireland during winter, but 

 the majority leave in Octol>er ; many pass the winter 

 in the south of Europe and in North Africa ; and 

 the species is resident in the Canaries, Madeira, 

 and the Azores. It is also found at the Cape, in 

 Madagascar and Mauritius, and in Egypt, while 

 in Palestine, as of old (Exod. xvi. 13), quails 

 come up at night and cover the land. It ranges to 

 India and China, and passes the cold season in 

 those countries. Its flesh is considered a delicacy, 

 and in the conntries they commonly visit the 

 arrival of the quails is eagerly expected. Quails 

 feed chiefly on insects and slugs, but also on grain 

 and seeds, and they seek their food in the evening. 

 In habit they are unsociable, unamiable, and 

 pugnacious with their own species. They are 

 partly polygamous, partly monogamous. The 



QUAIN 



517 



female is, however, an excellent and careful 

 mother. She builds her nest of bits of plants, and 

 lays from seven to fourteen eggs, pear-shaped, 

 light brown in colour, with dark shading. The 

 young are full grown in six weeks, and two bevies 

 may be reared during the season. The call-note of 

 the male is three-syllabled, and from it the quail 

 is known as ' wet-my-lips,' or ' wet-my-feet,' and 

 the species lias also for the same reason been 

 named C. dactylisonans. The other species of this 

 genus are C. delegorguii (named after the dis- 

 coverer Delegorgue) and C. coromandelica, found 

 in South Africa and India respectively in addi- 

 tion to the common quail ; C. pectoralis, found 

 in Australia and Tasmania ; C. caineana, found 

 in China ; and C. novcezelandice, formerly abundant 

 in New Zealand, but now almost extirpated by 

 the bush fires. The Button-quails, a different 

 group, including twenty species or more ranged 

 under the genus Turnix or Heinipodns, are dis- 

 tributed in IJarbary and in the Ethiopian, Indian, 

 and Australian regions. Australia possesses a 

 genus, Synoicus.peculiar to itself, which includes 

 four species. The American Quails, of which 

 there are about fifty or sixty species, are included 

 in the family or sub-family Odontophorid;i>, and 

 differ in habit from all the Old-World forms in 

 perching upon trees. The Virginian Quail (Ortyx 

 mrifinianiis), known as the Partridge and the Bob- 

 Wliite, from its calling-note, and the Californian 

 Quail ( Lophortyx californica ) have been introduced 

 into England as game-birds, but they have not yet 

 become resident there. 



a family of eminent medical men. ( 1 ) 

 JONES QUAIN, born in November 1796, at Mallow 

 in Ireland, studied medicine -at Dublin and Paris, 

 and in 1829 was appointed lecturer on Anatomy 

 and Physiology in the Aldersgate School of Medi- 

 cine, London. Two years later he was made pro- 

 fessor of Anatomy and Physiology at London 

 University, and held that post until 1836. He 

 died in London on 27th January 1865. That 

 well-known students' text-book, Quain's Elements 

 of Anatomy, was originally written by him; 

 the first edition appeared in 1828, the tenth in 

 1890. Jones Quain published also a series of 

 elaborate Anatomical Plates (1858) and a transla- 

 tion of Martinet's Pathology ( 1835). (2) RICHARD 

 QUAIN, brother of the above, was born at Fermoy, 

 Ireland, in July 1800, studied at London, and 

 was appointed professor of Anatomy and Clinical 

 Surgery in University College, London, in 1837. 

 He was likewise appointed surgeon-extraordinary 

 to the Queen, and was elected president of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons in 1868. He died in 

 London on 15th September 1887. Amongst his 

 works the principal are Anatomy of Arteries, with 

 folio plates (1845), Diseases of the Rectum ( 1854), 

 Observations on Medical Education (1865), Some 

 Defects of Medical Education (1870), and articles 

 on Dislocations of the Hip and the Knee ; he edited 

 along with others the fifth edition of ( Jones ) Quain's 

 Anatomy. By his will he left nearly 75,000 to 

 University College, London, for the ' education jn 

 modern languages (especially English) and in 

 natural science. '( 3 ) SIR RICHARD QUAIN, Bart., 

 first cousin to both the above, was born at Mallow 

 on 30th October 1816. He was Lumleian lecturer 

 at the Royal College of Physicians (Diseases of the 

 Muscular Walls of the Heart) in 1872, and Har- 

 veian Orator (The Healing Art in its Historic and 

 Prophetic Aspects) in 1885, and was made physi- 

 cian-extraordinary to the Queen. He edited the 

 Dictionary of Medicine (1882; 2d edition, 1894), 

 and contributed to the Trans, of the Med. and 

 Chirura. Soc., the Lond. Jonr. of Medicine, &c. 

 Dr Qnain was made LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1889, 

 president of the General Medical Council in 1891, 



