on the gC7ins Colurnix. 25


of tough grass and other shelter such as low bushes or brush-

wood, but there are other quails whose habits are practically

similar but which are tamer and more beauliful, so that C. cotur-

nix seemed to me to be hardly worth troubling about as my space

was limited.


Figure I. on the accompanying plate represents a typical

male example of C. colurnix, but this species is very subject to

variation, and many European specimens have the cheeks almost

as reddish in colour as the form which is found in South Africa

and has been separated as C. capensis or C. africana. Mr. Frank

Finn tells me that in India the quails seem to be very true to-

type, andhe has never seen one there with the reddish cheeks.



Cotumix capensis. The Cape Quail (see plate, fig. II.) is a

resident form and differs from C. cotumix only in the red colour-

ing of the cheeks and reddish tinge on other parts of the body.

Mr. Ogilvie-Grant considers it entitled to sub-specific rank only,

and states that it interbreeds freely with the Common Quail. Mr.

W. L. Sclater, who follows Reichenow in using the synonym

ajricana for this quail, states that all of the specimens he has

come across from South Africa are undoubtedly referable to the

red-cheeked form. The pair of C. capensis which lived some

months in my aviary were sent with the pair of C. colur?iix to the

Zoological Gardens as I had no room for them during the breed-

ing season. I therefore had no opporunity to study the nesting

habits of this form. My pair were very wild like the Common

Quails.


Cotumix japonica. The Japanese Quail (see plate, fig. III.)

is said to be a good species, but it is very closely allied to C. co-

tumix with which it is said to interbreed freely in the wild state.

From an examination of the series of specimens in the British

Museum I should be very much inclined to call this also a sub-

species of C. cotumix; but there is one character which Mr.

Ogilvie-Grant has pointed out and illustrated {Ann. df Mag. Nat.

Hist. (6), X. p. 171) which is perhaps sufficient to separate it

specifically. In the female the feathers of the chin and throat

are elongated and pointed as in none of the other species of the

genus. Prjevalsky sa) r s that it is easily distinguished from C.

cotumix bv its voice. ' : From the end of March to the middle of



