THE COMMON QUAIL. 73 



in a valuable memoir on the Quails and Hemipodii of India,* in 

 which an ample acquaintance with these birds is manifested, coin- 

 cides with Temminck in the opinion, that " quails emigrate for 

 food, rather than to enjoy an equable climate " in proof of which 

 it is mentioned, that " the great chauges of temperature in India 

 do not influence the movements of this species, food being abun- 

 dant at all seasons :" — the common quail of Europe is resident 

 there. 



In Ireland there is so little frost, that the food of the quail may 

 generally be procured with ease, a fact so far corroborative of the 

 view just mentioned. But I have had evidence of the effect 

 of cold upon this species, by finding it among rushes close 

 to the sea-side (Belfast bay) in severe frost, from which our 

 indigenous birds were likewise suffering, and have known one on 

 such occasions to be shot at low water, on the oozy banks of the 

 bay, a furlong from the shore. t In the county of Wexford, quails 

 are frequently met with in marshes of large extent. J 



The quail is generally characterized as a polygamous bird, which 

 I cannot consider correct, at least in reference to Ireland. The 

 universal impression, so far as I have questioned persons well 

 acquainted with the bird, is, that it regularly pairs. Indeed, in 

 the north, it is generally met with in pairs, not only in 

 summer, but in winter. Mr. Poole, considering the pairing as 

 a matter of course, from these birds having so occurred to him 



in summer, quail-shooting is a favourite amusement, these birds being then very 

 abundant on the lizeries, or flat alluvial grounds, bordering the shore, and constituting 

 the islands of the Tagus. 



* Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, vol. ii. ; and largely quoted in 

 Yarrell's ' Brit. Birds.' 



t Pennant mentions his having been assured "that these birds migrate out of the 

 neighbouring inland counties, into the hundreds of Esses, in October, and continue 

 there all the winter : if frost or snow drive them out of the stubble fields and 

 marshes, they retreat to the sea-side, shelter themselves among the weeds, and live 

 upon what they can pick up from the alga, &c. between high and low-water mark. 

 Our friend remarks, that the time of their appearance in Essex coincides with that 

 of their leaving the inland counties ; the same observation has been made in Hamp- 

 shire." — British Zoology. I have not met with any allusion to this in subsequent 

 works on British Ornithology. It woidd be desirable to know if such be the case 

 at the present time. 



* Poole. 



