242 TURN1CIDJE. 



very fond of eating flies, and also used to devour the ants which 

 came into its cage to carry away the dead. Very gentle in its 

 character, the call of this bird was very triste : it cooed day and 

 night, much in the manner of a Turtle-Dove, only the note was 

 more subdued and lengthened. I have reason to believe that 

 these Quails would breed in captivity, although this individual 

 bird did not lay." Favier. 



On the Spanish side I was unable to detect any migration of 

 this bird, though it is said by Andalucian bird-catchers and 

 cazadores to be migratory. The probability is that they are so, 

 but yet am inclined to think the reverse, as they are found in the 

 same localities in equal numbers at all seasons of the year. 



Near Gibraltar it is very local and nowhere plentiful, apparently 

 less so than is really the case, for they are difficult birds to flush, 

 and if put up once will rarely rise a second time. Scattered here 

 and there,they chiefly frequent palmetto (Chamcerops humilis] scrub, 

 and appear to be most common near the coast, being more abun- 

 dant to the east of the Queen of Spain's Chair, especially about 

 the Lomo del Rey and a place called Las Agusaderas. In their 

 flight and habits, from what I could observe of them, they 

 resemble the Indian Button-Quail (Turnix dussumieri). 



I have often seen them among the rough grass and bents close 

 to the sea-shore, but always near palmetto, and one bird in parti- 

 cular for a long time frequented a patch of thick herbage near 

 the mouth of the "First Iliver"; whenever I rode by, my dog 

 used to flush it, till at last one day, wanting a specimen, I went 

 purposely to shoot the bird ; but, of course, upon this occasion 

 my friend was not to be found, nor did I again see one there for 

 some months. 



They are scarce between Algeciraz and Tarifa, but occur 

 towards Vejer, and are tolerably plentiful on the palmetto- 

 covered high ground above Casas Viejas, called La Mesa ; further 

 than this I did not meet with them personally, nor could I obtain 

 any near Seville. 



