414 TETRAONID^l. 



OUR British Quail belongs to that section of the genus 

 Coturnix designated by Colonel Sykes* as having the upper 

 mandible but slightly bent, the wings pointed, and the legs 

 smooth, or without tubercles ; species belonging to other 

 divisions of the genus have wings rounded in form, with 

 occasionally spur-like tubercles upon the legs. 



This bird has generally been considered as a summer 

 visitor only to Great Britain ; but so many instances have 

 latterly been recorded of its occurrence, in Ireland particu- 

 larly, as well as in England, during the winter months, as 

 to make it appear that a portion of them do not return 

 southward in autumn. The Quails arrive from Africa in 

 countless thousands on the numerous islands of the Medi- 

 terranean, and the Grecian Archipelago about April, and 

 hence, according to Pennant, the warm southerly winds of 

 that month bringing birds to Greece, are called in that 

 country ornithix. So numerous are they in other countries 

 in the line of their migration, that one hundred thousand 

 are recorded to have been taken in one day on the west 

 side of the kingdom of Naples. From thence they spread 

 over southern Europe, migrating every year as far north 

 as Scandinavia and Russia. They arrive in this country 

 in May, and seem more partial to open champaign coun- 

 tries than to those which are enclosed. The males are said 

 to arrive before the females, and advantage is taken of this 

 circumstance by bird-catchers in France, who every year 

 decoy hundreds of dozens of males only into their nets by 

 imitating the call-note of the female. These birds are 

 brought by French dealers in Quails to the London mar- 

 kets in large quantities, and sold to the poulterers for the 

 use of the table ; and on examination of dozens together in 

 the flat cages in which they are carried, it is rare to find a 

 female among them. The birds while in confinement, are 

 fed on hemp-seed, and soon become very fat. This par- 

 * Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ii. page 1. 



