1 59 A BIRD CALENDAR 



come the grey quail (Coturnix communis). 

 These, like the rain-quail, afford good sport 

 with the gun if attracted by call birds set 

 down overnight. When the stream of immi- 

 grating quail has ceased to flow, these birds 

 spread themselves over the well-cropped 

 country. It then becomes difficult to obtain a 

 good bag of quail until the time of the spring 

 harvest, when they collect in the crops that 

 are still standing. 



Thousands of blue-winged teal invade India 

 in September, but most of the other species 

 of non-resident duck do not arrive until 

 October or even November. 



Not the least important of the September 

 arrivals are the migratory birds of prey. None 

 of the owls seem to migrate. Nor do the 

 vultures, but a large proportion of the diurnal 

 raptores leaves the plains of India in the 

 spring. 



To every migratory species of raptorial 

 bird, that captures living quarry, there is a 

 non-migratory counterpart or near relative. 

 It would almost seem as if each species were 

 broken up into two clans a migratory and a 

 stationary one. Thus, of each of the following 

 pairs of birds the first-named is migratory and 



