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THE QUAIL. 



(Coturnix communis.) 



The Quail is about the size of a large clenched fist, and 

 is almost as round as a skittle ball. Its entire plumage 

 is clay-coloured speckled with a darker shade, and marked 

 with light lines, like the head of oats. The whole 

 marking of it, especially of its back, is designed to avert 

 man's attention from this crouching bird. The throat 

 of the cock is black, the beak and legs like those of the 

 barn-door fowl. The bright eye light nut-brown. The 

 nest is placed on the ground, and is simply a scratched- 

 out hole, which is rather littered than lined with blades 

 of grass. In this the female bird lays her eggs of olive 

 yellow, beautifully speckled with brown, sometimes to 

 the number of sixteen, but usually ten. The chicks run 

 after their mother as soon as they are hatched and dried 

 which is a very pretty sight. They can make them- 

 selves invisible by crouching on the ground, so that the 

 colour of their down assimilates with that of the earth. 



The habits of this bird are those of the domestic fowl. 

 From early morning till evening twilight, the Quail is 

 on its feet, searching the ground for grains of seed or 

 little beetles. It scratches like a hen, and when it finds 

 a sunny, dusty or sandy place, it bathes in the sand, 

 flinging the dust all about. The Quail is a useful bird 

 for it picks up only the seed which lies on the ground, 

 and feeds it young with the same. It therefore deserves 

 shelter and care. Its voice and habits are pleasant and 

 agreeable to man. Its familiar and homelike cry, sounds 

 from out of the cornfields, and the little hen answers. 

 The mating call of both is, " Bue bee wee." 



