THE QUAIL 73 



has most frequently been copied by one author after another the call 

 of the male resembles the words "clik-a-lik" or " whet-my-lips" 

 Mr. Whitaker, who writes from his own experience, renders it " whit, 

 wes-whit" The German version has it, " Buck-den- Ruch" and the 

 French " J'ai-du-ble, fai pas de sd " (sac) ! The responsive call of the 

 female is a gentle note like "few, few" or "pew-pew." But however 

 difficult these notes may be to express in terms of common speech, it 

 is readily enough imitated by mechanical means, so that fowlers, who 

 of necessity must be skilled performers, used in days gone by, in this 

 country, to snare large numbers by alternately reproducing the call 

 of male and female. It appears unlikely that this means of earning 

 a livelihood will ever again be possible to the birdcatchers of Great 

 Britain. 



VOL. IV. 



