444 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 





I have in my collection a very handsome specimen of this species, 

 in which the throat and the upper part of the foreneck, as well as 

 a broad band extending upwards from the latter to the ear, are of a 

 pure deep black colour. From the ear the black band is continued, 

 in the form of a narrow stripe, to the upper mandible. A second 

 band, composed of black spots, passes from one ear to the other 

 along the sides of the neck and the foreneck ; and a third stripe, of 

 equal breadth, extends from above the ears along the nape of the 

 neck down to the back. Usually the markings which are black 

 in this specimen are, in typical examples, of a reddish-brown 

 colour, slightly paler and fainter than that of the general plumage 

 of these parts. 



The Quail is a very widely distributed breeding species, its nest- 

 ing area extending from the Azores through the whole of temperate 

 and southern Europe and Asia, as Avell as through North Africa. 



