Migratory Quail 303 



numerous on the lower ranges in the wooded ravines and hillsides, inhabiting 

 forests and jungles and never open spots or cultivated fields. It is rather solitary 

 in its habits, generally found in pairs, but occasionally in autumn and winter 

 five or six will collect together and keep to one spot. It is a quiet, unsuspicious 

 bird; when alarmed it utters a soft whistle, and generally creeps away through 

 the underwood, if not closely pressed, in preference to rising. It feeds on leaves, 

 roots, maggots, seeds, and berries, and in confinement will eat grain. In the 

 forests of the interior in spring it is often heard calling at all hours of the day, 

 the call being a loud, soft whistle, which may be easily imitated so as to entice 

 the bird quite close." Its eggs are said to be pure white. About twelve inches 

 long, the male is olive-brown, barred with black above, face and throat black, 

 fore neck white, as are the under parts, while the crown is bright chestnut ; the 

 female has the crown brown and the face, throat, and neck rusty, spotted with 

 black. 



Migratory Quail. With the widely known Migratory Quail (Coturnix 

 coturnix] we must close our account of this interesting group, although nearly 

 every member is really worthy of extended mention. Hardly exceeding seven 

 inches in length, this handsome little Quail is sandy-brown above variegated 

 with black and straw color, the head "mottled with black and reddish brown, 

 with three longitudinal, yellowish streaks," the chin and throat white with an 

 anchor-shaped patch of black down the middle, and the lower parts reddish 

 brown. As its name indicates, it is strictly migratory, spending the summer 

 months or from March and April to September and October in Europe and north- 

 ern Asia, and the remainder of the year in the Indian peninsula and South Africa. 

 It is indeed remarkable, as Mr. Hudson says, that while in summer "he is a 

 dweller on the ground, an earth lover, like his stay-at-home relation, the Par- 

 tridge, yet in his wide wanderings he crosses seas, vast deserts, and the loftiest 

 mountain chains, and by means of this migratory instinct has diffused himself 

 over the three great continents." Although quite widely diffused throughout 

 Great Britain, they are nowhere abundant, and being monogamous, are spread in 

 pairs in suitable locations, preferring rough grass country rather than cultivated 

 land. Soon after their arrival in spring a very few may remain over winter 

 the call of the male is heard, "a shrill, piping note of three syllables, supposed 

 to resemble the words wet my lips or wet my feet, according to the hearer's fancy." 

 They breed on the ground, making a very slight nest with little or no lining, and 

 lay from nine to fifteen eggs which are creamy white or buff, blotched and spotted 

 with rich brown; one or often two broods are reared each season. After the 

 nesting season is over they lay aside their exclusiveness and congregate in vast 

 flocks for the migration, and in portions of their winter range, notably in India, 

 they occur in numbers almost incredible. ThusTickell says of them on an island 

 in the Ganges: "I do not exaggerate when I say they are like locusts in number. 

 Every step that brushed the covert sent off a number of them, so that I had to 

 stand every now and then like a statue and employ my arms only, and that in a 

 stealthy manner, for the purpose of loading and firing. A furtive scratch of the 

 head, or a wipe of the heated brow, dismissed a whole 'bevy' into the next field." 



