MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 823 



I have had rather exceptional opportuinties of observing the habits of these 

 birds, my work involving the traversing of a large area of grass laud in the 

 C. P. yearly. 



The Kain Qnail pair preparatory to nesting in the latter half of February. 

 By the middle of March, sometime before, should the hot weather be ad-- 

 vancing prematurely, nests are to be found. These are generally in the 

 grass, bounding watery nullahs. The chicks are about in the early part of 

 April and by the time the monsoon has set in (iirst or second week in 

 June) the chicks are big enough to withstand the torrential rain. As soon 

 as the rains diminish in September, the parent birds nest again, chicks being 

 about early in October. 



The possession of a good pointer enabled me to make the foregoing 

 observations with some degree of accuracy. I had this dog for eleven 

 seasons in India. Instead of flushing a quail out of hand and scattering a 

 brood, this dog would "stand" to any quail she found. She stood to quail 

 on nests when taken for runs over the grass lands during the nesting 

 season. The bird would sit within a foot of her nose and I, on several 

 occasions, walked quietly up behind the dog and observed the bird on the 

 nest. I found a quail never rose directly from the nest, but always ran 

 several yards before rising. The dog would occasionally find broods and 

 " stand " to them. At first I thought the dog was playing the fool as there 

 was apparently no bird in front of her, but one day I accidentally stamped 

 on a chick after forcing the dog on. This led me to investigate some of 

 these mysterious "points."' I soon discovered very small chicks sitting 

 absolutely rigid. When turned over on their backs they never moved, but 

 as soon as one withdrew they disappeared very quickly. The chicks were 

 marked with the usual game bird chick marking. The nests and broods 

 were all found always in the seasons previously mentioned. 



When the monsoon had broken, the grass being about six inches high, 

 scent good and the weather cool, I always used to take the pointer puppies 

 out with the old dog to train on quail. Cover was not too thick and the 

 spring broods were full grown. Never did I find a nest at this season of the 

 year, only well grown birds fit to shoot. Judging by the quantities all these 

 quail could not have been bred locally. I should think that a good num- 

 ber were migratory birds, spring birds coming up from Southern India, when 

 the rains became too heavy and proceeding probably into Eajputana later 

 on. This is, of course, purely conjecture, but there are certainly more qiu^il 

 on the grass lands during the month of July, than were ever bred there. 

 One oflicer told me that he killed fifteen brace in one evening on the cavalry 

 parade ground at Jubbulpore. Birds in such quantities cannot be breeding. 

 Under the circumstances I suggest that quail shooting should close on 

 March 1st At the latest and reopen again on July 1st for a period of two 

 months, then remain closed until the 30th of November. This would give 

 opportunities for a little shooting at a season when there is little sport to be 

 had. As the quail (fc not nest in large quantities locally, the parent bird I 

 believe, would not suffer much, as it is the young birds, new to flight and 

 easily flushed, that aftord the sport. 



J. A. BUDDEN, Capt., 



Military Farms Department. 

 Saugor, C.P., 28f/? August 1916. 



[According- to Hume and Gates, the Rain Qnail nests in Northern India in June 

 and July and in the Deccan in August and September. We fear that it mig'ht be 

 difficult if Oapt. Budden's suggestions were adopted to get sportsmen to remember 

 the dates when the rail quail could be shot and when they were protected- — 

 Editors.] 



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