MISCELLANEA 253 



natural food, and to our disappointment it died after about a 

 month. Several times I heard its croaking grunt in the 

 evenings. — E. L. G. 



Quails in the Northern Counties. — During the last fifty 

 years Quails seem to have become much scarcer in England 

 than they used to be. Lately, however, there have been signs 

 that their numbers were increasing again, and in the early 

 autumn of 19 13 a good many were reported as seen or shot 

 by partridge shooters in the North of England and the Border 

 counties of Scotland. Mr. H. I. Brackenbury sends word of 

 a Quail seen by Mr. Montagu Maclean and the reporter to 

 the Field at the retriever trials at Harehope in the last week 

 of September. Another Quail was brought to the Museum 

 on September 23rd. It had been shot the previous day near 

 the village of Bowsden, close to Lowick. This was a bird of 

 the year, and though no others were seen it suggests the 

 probability that Quails had bred in the district. It was sent 

 by Mr. H. L. Pattinson, of Low Lynn, Beal, on whose 

 shooting it was killed. 



There appear to be no actual records of the nesting of 

 Quails in our neighbourhood since the early 'seventies, when 

 Mr. Hancock's catalogue was written. The gift to the 

 Museum of a clutch of Quail's eggs from Ryton is therefore 

 very welcome. They have been presented by Mr. Thomas 

 Thompson, of Ashfield Terrace, Ryton, who took them him- 

 self "in a new-land hayfield off the Greenside road" about 

 the year 1893. He knew the birds were there, and followed 

 the hay-cutting machine until it uncovered the nest. The 

 machine unfortunately broke two of the eggs : there were 

 thirteen in the clutch, and eleven remain.— E. L. G. 



Prestwick Car Field Meeting. 



Some notes supplementing Mr. Amsden's report on the 

 field meeting at Prestwick Car (see p. 202) have been 

 supplied by Mr. G. Nicholson, who was collecting with Mr 



