74 TETRAONID.E. 



in the county of Wexford, remarks, under date of April 11 : — 

 " A quail which has through the winter frequented a meadow in 

 my daily walk, has, I observe to-day, procured for itself a mate, 

 but whether from the spring migration or from some neighbouring 

 locality, as is more probable, must remain a mystery, except to 

 the respective parties." But the nearest approximation to proof 

 is in the following cases. The observant gamekeeper at Glengariff 

 (Cork) states, that in almost every instance in which he has found 

 the young brood, the two old birds were with them. My friend, 

 William Ogilby, Esq., furnishes this interesting note : — " In 

 walking through a grass field on my farm at Liscleen (Tyrone), 

 about the 15th or 16th of May (1849), I suddenly flushed a quail, 

 which rose so close to my feet that I was very nearly trampling on 

 it. On looking down, I readily distinguished the lair in which it 

 had been sitting, with a small heap of droppings on one side, 

 evidently indicative that the place had been occupied for some 

 days. But my curiosity was excited at perceiving close by (within 

 about a foot) a dead quail, which I presume must have been its 

 mate, and which, from its condition, I should judge to have lain 

 there for four or five days ; during all which time it was apparent 

 that the widowed survivor had never deserted the body. This 

 instance of fidelity in a class of birds, of the mental characters of 

 which we know so little, strongly attracted my attention, and 

 I think may possibly be interesting to you in more respects than 

 one. You will draw your own conclusion as to the value of the 

 anecdote in its bearing on the question of the monogamous 

 or polygamous habits of the quail. The crop of the dead bird 

 was distended with seeds of grass mixed with a large number of 

 scarabeei and other insects." 



When in Dublin, in May 1849, I saw a pair of quails at Mr. 

 Campbell's, Duke-lane, that, in the preceding year, had produced 

 and reared to maturity five young. The cage in which they were 

 confined was about three feet in length, and half as much 

 in height and depth. I saw both the old and the young 

 birds, which were placed in separate cages, on account of 

 their pugnacious propensities. Their call-notes, loudly uttered 



