420 TETRAONIDJJ, 



a small dark spot on each side of the light straw-coloured 

 shaft. 



The young birds of the year resemble the adult female. 

 The young males do not acquire the black patch on the 

 front of the neck till their second year. 



In the illustration which precedes this subject, the figure 

 in the foreground represents the male bird ; that behind 

 and a little to the left, the female ; and in reference to 

 the unusual occurrence of Quails in the southern parts of 

 England during winter, noticed at page 414, I may men- 

 tion that early in February, 1844, I saw six Quails at a 

 poulterer's shop in London, which had been sent up from 

 Cambridgeshire, and as these birds had no wound about 

 them, I had no doubt they had been caught by fowlers 

 when drawing nets for Larks. Of these six, three were 

 females. A writer in the Zoologist, page 871, refers to 

 the late appearance of Quails in Oxfordshire in the fol- 

 lowing terms : " In consequence of some fields of corn 

 remaining in this part of England, still standing in 

 December, 1844, Quails did not leave us till very late. 

 After several days of severe frost, I heard of a pair having 

 been seen in a field, in the parish of Hornsey, near this 

 town. I cannot remember the exact date, but it was some 

 time in December ; and in the last week in November, I 

 saw a pair in this market, where they have been more 

 plentiful than usual this autumn, which had been killed 

 down in the fens. The birds seen at Hornsey had not 

 been driven away by intense frost, which, curious to say, 

 prevailed while the barley where they lay was being car- 

 ried." H. T. Frere, C. C. C. Oxford. 



One example has been shot near the Pentland Hills, and 

 two nests with eggs found within three miles of Edin- 

 burgh. 



