QUAIL. 53 



duced by many birds under circumstances where there is or 

 can be no progeny. In some places it is customary to collect 

 the eggs of partridges, hatch them under domestic hens, and 

 then turn the broods into preserves for the purpose of stock- 

 ing them. That method may in so far answer, and it is the 

 only one by which birds can be readily accumulated in places 

 where they are not native ; but in the case of partridges, it 

 is probable that the increase in the one place is not so great 

 as the decrease in the other. A stock may be good up to 

 a certain point, but an overstock must always be kept up at 

 a loss. 



GUERNSEY PARTRIDGE. 



The Guernsey partridge is stouter, heavier, and longer in 

 the wing than the common partridge : it has also two quills 

 more on each wing, which mark it as a distinct species. Its 

 colour is more red than that of the common sort, and its 

 gait bolder. It has been introduced into many preserves, 

 from which pairs have escaped or been driven; so that it is 

 becoming gradually more abundant in the open fields of the 

 southern counties. It differs from the common grey par- 

 tridge in some of its habits, as well as in its appearance ; as 

 for instance, it sometimes perches on trees. 



QUAIL (Coturnix). 



A figure of the common quail (Coturnix vulgaris) will be 

 found in the plate facing page 29. It is there represented at 

 one third of the lineal dimensions, or half as much diminished 

 in line as the ptarmigan. 



Though quails are now both local and rare as British bird&, 

 yet it is probable that they are more numerous in some o 

 the southern counties than appears to common observation 

 Their extreme closeness during the day, appears to be the 

 principal cause of this. They are best known to the night 



