QUAIL 



269 



Quail. 

 Coturnix communis. 



FIG. 92. QUAIL, i natural size. 



Head mottled with black and reddish brown, with three parallel, 

 longitudinal, yellowish streaks ; upper parts ash-brown variegated 

 with black and straw-colour ; neck reddish yellow, with a double 

 crescent of dusky brown ; breast pale reddish brown streaked with 

 white ; bill and feet yellowish brown. Length, eight niches. Female : 

 paler, and wanting the double crescent on the neck. 



The quail is a summer visitor to this country, arriving in May. 

 It is nowhere a common bird, although widely distributed, and it 

 has been found breeding in most parts of the British Islands. Occa- 

 sionally it is met with in winter, most often in Ireland. Immedi- 

 ately after its arrival the call of the male is heard morning and 

 evening, 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. This call is repeated again and again, with some slight 

 variation in the sound. The nest is a slight hollow scratched in a 

 corn-field, among grass or clover, and the eggs number seven or eight 

 to twelve, and even a larger number is sometimes found. They are 

 speckled and blotched with umber-brown on a yellowish white 



