124 PHASIANID^. 



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. Mr. H. T. Frere (Zoologist, p. 871) refers to 

 the late appearance of Quails in Oxfordshire in the following 

 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 re- 

 member 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 carried." In the winter of 1847, and 

 again in December 1865 and January 1866, Quails were 

 obtained in several localities of the east and north-east of 

 England. The majority, however, arrive in this country in 

 May, and seem more partial to open champaign countries 

 than to those which are enclosed. 



Sparingly distributed throughout the country, there are 

 few districts in which Quails have not at one time or another 

 been recorded as breeding; and few also in which their 

 appearance can be counted upon either with regularity or in 

 anything like average numbers. In some parts of Corn- 

 wall a good many are bred, the year 1870 having proved 

 unusually favourable for hatching ; and about Bridgewater in 

 Somersetshire, a fair number nest annually. In other parts 

 of the west they appear to be uncommon, at least beyond 

 Breconshire and Cheshire; but eastward they are to be 

 found scattered about most, if not all, of the southern and 

 midland counties. At one time Quails were far more partial 

 than they are at present to Hertford, Cambridgeshire, and 

 the fen-district ; and in Norfolk, and also in Lincolnshire, 

 they are far less abundant than in former years, when drain- 



