PARTRIDGE QUAIL. 129 



When a number of partridges feeding have moved some 

 distance off, leaving some lagging gleaner behind, we are sur- 

 prised to see the speed with which he runs along the ground 

 to join his companions, which he no sooner does than the 

 entire covey in most cases spring into the air with a whirring 

 sound that finds an echo in every sportsman's heart. 



An allied species, the French or red-legged partridge (per- 

 drix rufd), has been introduced into the country, but in al- 

 most every instance failure has been the result. 



Indigenous. 



GENUS LXII. COTURNIX (QUAIL). 



SPECIES 120 THE QUAIL. 



Coturnix vulgaris. Flem. 



Caille ordinaire. Temm. 



THIS, the smallest, best known, and most familiar of our 



ame, is also the most common in its occurrence, and resem- 

 les the partridge in selecting the cultivated districts. 



It is the most interesting of its family, from the fact of its 

 being the only species which migrates from that " great Con- 

 tinent," which pours forth such a combination of form to 

 gladden our latitudes, either with the melody of their song 

 or the beauty of their plumage. 



The quail appears, from comparing notes as regards 

 England and our own country, to exist here in a proportion 

 of 10 to 1 ; and, stranger yet, a small portion remain with 

 us, and winter in Ireland. In summer it is so abundant in 

 the fields, that, in the suburban streets of the city, we may 

 constantly hear their pleasing call-notes. Differing from the 

 rest of its family, which seldom call unless alarmed, the vici- 

 nity of the quail is always known by the constant repetition 

 of its singularly loud note, which might be syllabled to resem- 

 ble the words, "whit, whit, wheet:" or, as Mr. Thompson has 

 correctly remarked, to resemble the words, " wet my foot, 

 wet my foot." 



So pleasing is its cry or call-note, that several pair which 

 were exposed on the window-sill of a fishing-tackle shop on 

 the quays attracted the greatest attention from every class, 

 claiming a look from the barrister passing to the Law Courts 

 in its vicinity, and receiving endless imitations from all the 

 idle " gamins" congregated to hear them. 



The eggs of the quail exceed in beauty and variety all 

 those of our native birds ; and we have on many occasions 

 K 



