394 TETRAONID^E. 



many of these birds at Holkham, with what ultimate suc- 

 cess I know not. This made me suppose that the eggs in 

 question might belong to this bird, particularly as a fen- 

 man near the place where this nest is said to have been 

 found, mentioned to me his having seen a bird like a Par- 

 tridge in flight, but much smaller. Mr. Salmon, of Thet- 

 ford, had some of these eggs ; and I think he told me he 

 showed them to Mr. Hewitson." 



On comparing the outline of one of these eggs with three 

 specimens of the eggs of Ortyx Virginiana in my own col- 

 lection, received from America, the accordance was so 

 exact as to leave no doubt that they belonged to the 

 same species; and lastly, I may add that a few years 

 back Mr. Leadbeater received three or four freshly killed 

 specimens, with directions to mount them together in one 

 case. These birds had been shot in Kent, were in beau- 

 tiful plumage, and when preserved formed a very interest- 

 ing group. 



Since the publication of the first edition of this work, a 

 specimen of this Virginian Quail has been shot in North- 

 umberland, and is now in the collection of Mr. J. Hancock, 

 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; and another was shot off a tree 

 near Bristol, as mentioned by Mr. Hewitson in the second 

 edition of his work on the eggs of our British Birds. In 

 September 1844, a couple were shot near Egham as they 

 rose from a pea-stubble. On the 29th of October, in the 

 same year, a pair were killed out of a small covey of seven 

 or eight, in a copse near Egham, by Wyatt Edgell, Esq. 

 This latter occurrence was communicated to me by Gr. R. 

 Marten, Esq., who very kindly allowed me an examination 

 of the birds ; and in April of the present year, 1845, a 

 very fine old male was obtained between Weybridge and 

 Chertsey by a boy, who, hearing the call-note of a bird, 



