70 THE PHEASANT SUBFAMILY 



single out the quail as the most primitive, the least specialised, of all 

 our game-birds. More than this, if we extend our survey so as to 

 include all the members of the genus Coturnix, then our quail may 

 stand as one of the most primitive of all the Gallidce. The contention 

 that the plumage of the members of the genus Coturnix approximates 

 very closely to what must be regarded as the ancestral plumage, at 

 least of the Gallidce, rests on the fact that longitudinal stripes form its 

 most striking feature. 



To realise the full significance of this we must turn to the juvenile 

 dress, which undoubtedly answers to the ancestral adult dress. And 

 in proof of this, so far as proof is possible, we need only turn to the 

 juvenile dress of the partridges, which have departed scarcely more 

 from this standard. They have, however, traversed thus far, that 

 the juvenile dress of the common and redlegged-partridge bears 

 a greater likeness details apart to that of the adult, than to the 

 juvenile dress of the quail. 



Why so charming and so interesting a bird as the quail should 

 be branded as a bird of " skulking " habits it is difficult to understand, 

 for if ever a bird had cause to shun even the suspicion of proximity 

 to man, that bird is the quail. Yet more than one writer has applied 

 this offensive description, when it would be more " sportsmanlike " 

 and more accurate to say that it displayed an unusual alertness and 

 keenness to the presence of danger, and no less skill in avoiding 

 exposure. When pugnacity and desperate courage are called for, 

 the quail is never the bird to seek safety in hiding. This is apparent 

 at once so soon as we turn to the records of its behaviour in the 

 tourney field, whereon, like its larger relatives, it lives for a season 

 during the period of courtship. In all that pertains to this phase 

 of its life the quail again resembles its cousin the partridge. Nay 

 more, as a duellist the quail outdoes the partridge. Travelling like 

 good comrades together over that perilous journey from Africa to our 

 own shores, the males reach us some days in advance of the females 

 when they come at all and no sooner have they landed than they 



