36 VARIETIES OP SHOOTING. 



feathers on her breast are strongly marked with a small dark 

 spot on each side of the light straw-coloured shaft. The 

 young birds resemble the female, the black patch on the front 

 of the neck not being assumed by the cocks till their second 

 year. Quails are polygamous in their habits ; the hen makes 

 her nest on the ground, with the aid of a few bits of grass 

 or straw ; she lays from seven to twelve eggs, which are of 

 a dull yellowish white blotched with umber brown, in length 

 one inch and one line, and eleven lines in breadth. The 

 period of incubation is about three weeks, the young birds, 

 like those of the partridge, at once leaving the nest and 

 feeding on insects, seeds, and green leaves. They are found 

 in September in " bevies" (as the broods are called) on the 

 stubbles, and many are killed on the eastern coast by par- 

 tridge shooters. The quail is generally only a summer 

 visitant to this country, but occasionally exceptions to the 

 rule occur, and individuals are met with during the winter. 

 Africa is the country where they chiefly spend this season, 

 crossing the Mediterranean in countless thousands in April 

 and March, and a few arriving in this country in May and 

 leaving in October. Great quantities are imported alive 

 from France, and are fed by the London poulterers on hemp- 

 seed till they become fat. The flesh is considered a great 

 delicacy, and coming as it does in the height of the London 

 season, it is much valued. They fly quickly, and generally 

 straight and low, but it is difficult to make them rise a 

 second time after being once flushed. 



The LANDRAIL (Onygometra crex) is also, like the quail, 

 a summer visitant, appearing in England about April or 

 May, and leaving us in October or early in November. 

 The generic characters are as follows : Bill shorter than the 

 head, thick at the base, . subcultrated and compressed ; 

 lateral furrow of the upper mandible broad, and extending 

 more than half its length ; angle of the under mandible 

 bending upwards, both being of an equal length ; nostrils 

 concave, lateral, linear, ovoid, pierced in a membrane occu- 

 pying the furrow in the middle of the bill ; wings armed with 

 a spine, and having the second and third quill feather the 

 longest ; legs strong, of medium length, with the lower part 

 of the tibise naked j feet four-toed j toes long, slender, and 



