G84 Staff-Surgeou K. II. Jones on Birds 



Caccabis chukar. 



The Chukar Partridge occurs very sparingly in the hills 

 about Wei Ilai Wei, but is probably a resident. No doubt 

 the natives trap it to such an extent that it is almost exter- 

 minated. I only once met with it, on September the 14th, 

 1901, when about ten or a dozen were observed together at 

 Mahto. 



Swinhoe met with this species at Chefoo, and. it occurs also 

 about Shi Tao, but somewhat rarely. 



COTURNIX COMMUNIS. 



' Quails occur about Wei Hai Wei ouly on passage, and 

 probably pass northward fairly early in the year. About 

 the third or fourth week in September they began to put in 

 an appearance on the return journey, but were never noticed 

 in any numbers, and usually in pairs or two or three at a 

 time. At Shi Tao these birds were found well on into 

 October. 



At Chefoo Swinhoe obtained from native bird-catchers 

 examples of the local race known as Cutiirnix japonicus, to 

 which most of the Quails occurring on migration probably 

 belong. 



TuRNIX BLANFORDI. 



Blanford's Hemipode is a common summer visitor to the 

 Shantung Peninsula, and is known to the Chinese as the 

 Yellow Quail. 



Probably most of the birds arrive in May, and a large 

 number remain to breed. In the autumn the ranks of 

 this species are largely augmented by the incursion of 

 migrants from more northerly breeding-stations. The first 

 arrivals appear as early as the beginning of September, and 

 a specimen killed by a Peregrine was observed on the sea- 

 shore on the 3rd of that month. 



The nest, in Shantung, appears to be always made in 

 a corn-field, and it is, therefore, only when the sickle is put 

 to the crop that the nest is discovered. 



The earliest date for eggs is June 10th and the latest 



