V 



106 



THE EUROPEAN QUAIL. 



persons, should be clear, and never turbid. It moults twice in 

 the year, once in autumn, and again in spring; it then requires 

 river sand, and greater attention than at other times. 



BREEDING. 



The quail breeds very late, never before July. Its nest, if it 

 can be called so, is a hole scratched in the earth, in which it 

 lays from ten to fourteen bluish-white eggs, with large brown 

 spots. These are hatched after three weeks' incubation. The 

 young ones, all hairy, follow the mother the moment they leave 

 the shell. Their feathers grow quickly, for in the autumn they 

 are able to depart with her to the southern countries. The 

 males are so ardent, that if one is placed in a room with a 

 female, he will pursue her immediately with extraordinary 

 eagerness, tearing off her feathers if she resist in the least ; he 

 is less violent if he has been in the same room with her during 

 the year. The female, in this case, lays a great many eggs 

 but rarely sits on them ; yet if young ones are brought her 

 from the fields, she eagerly receives them under her wings, 

 and becomes a very affectionate mother to them. The young 

 must be fed on eggs, boiled hard and cut small, but the best 

 way is to take the mother with the covey, which may be done 

 with a net. She watches over them attentively, and they are 

 more easily reared. During the first year, one would think 

 that all in the covey were females, the males resemble them so 

 much, particularly before the brown shows itself on the throat, 



The adult female, however, diners very sensibly from the 

 male ; her throat is white, and her breast paler, and spotted 

 with black, like that of the throat. 



MANAGEMENT. 



In the house, if allowed to range, its gentleness, neatness, and 

 peculiar motions are seen to advantage ; but it is often kept in 

 a cage of the following make : — 



b- ■ <d§ 



