QUAILS. 



415 



-where only in the males of the blood-pheasants. These birds ramble about the 

 hillsides, at an elevation of about three thousand to four thousand feet, in bevies or 

 parties of six or eight to a dozen ; and are exceedingly swift of foot, never leaving 

 the jungle, and rarely taking wing. Their note is a soft mellow whistle, chiefly 

 heard in the morning, or when they have been separated. Their nearest ally is the 

 black wood-partridge (Melanoperdix niger), ranging over much the same area, but 

 not found in Java. The male has the whole plumage glossy black, while that of 

 the female is mostly chestnut, the scapulars barred with black, and the upper-parts, 

 sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts mottled with the same colour. 



Quails. 



COMMON QUAIL (\ nat. size). 



The most advanced form of the partridge type of wing is found 

 in the quails, as well as in the snow-partridges ; all of which have the 

 first flight-feather but little shorter than the second, and equal to the third, while 

 the tenth is much the shortest. Accordingly, when the wing is expanded the 

 vertical angle of an imaginary triangle is formed by the second quill, instead of 

 by the fifth or sixth. The common or migratory quail (Cotumix ccrnimunis), 

 ranges over an enormous area, being found over Europe, Africa, and Asia, north of 

 the Himalaya. In Eastern Asia a distinct species, the Japanese quail ((7. japonica), 

 is found, but during the breeding-season many of the common quail invade these 

 countries, with the result that the two interbreed. The male of the common quail 

 may be recognised by its white throat with a black anchor-shaped mark down the 



