758 COTURNIX CHINENSIS. 



Mr. Gould separated the Australian species in his ' Handbook ' as distinct, bestowing on it the title of Excalfactoriu 

 australis, on the ground of it being smaller. I do not find this to be the case, and as regards plumage it is not 

 separable from Malayan-archipelago skins. The following are measurements of various examples : — tf (S. Australia), 

 wing 2-7 inches ; d (Ceylon), wing 2-7 ; <3 's (China), wing 2-7 and 2-9 ; <J (Sarawak), wing 2-9 : tf (Penang), wing 2-7 ; 

 2 (Ceylon), wing 2-6 ; $ (Nepal), wing 2-8 ; 2 (South Australia), wing 2-6. It will be seen from these data that 

 there is not that difference in size which would warrant a specific separation. 



Females from China appear to have the under surface more rufous than Ceylonese. 



C. minima, Gould, from Celebes, is, as its name implies, a very diminutive variety of the present. It differs also as 

 regards plumage. 



Distribution. — This beautiful species is found chiefly in the well-watered low-country districts of the 

 west of the island, ranging into the hills to some considerable elevation, where it affects the paddy-fields 

 cultivated on the terraced sides of the Kandyan valleys. It is a permanent resident in the cinnamon- 

 gardens near Colombo, inhabiting the " water "-grass-fields and the damp fern-covered hollows near the 

 watercourses which here and there intersect that once extensive plantation. In the south of Ceylon I have 

 found them tolerably frequent in paddy-fields and grass cultivation near Galle, where Layard, as well as at 

 Matara, observed it to be common. He likewise saw it in the Pasdun Korale. In the valley of Dumbara 

 it is not uncommon, and I have known it to occur in paddy-fields high up in Hewahette (3500 feet). It is 

 found about the borders of some of the tanks in the northern half of the island, affecting the grass-lands 

 which surround these sheets of water. I noticed it particularly near Minery, and I have no doubt it frequents 

 many such situations. 



On the mainland its distribution is easterly. It does not inhabit the north-western parts of India at 

 all, but ranges through Bengal into Assam and Burmah, and thence southwards down the Malay peninsula, 

 and eastwards to China. Jerdon writes : — " I have killed it only in the Carnatic ; one specimen is recorded 

 in my Catalogue from Belgaum in Western India. It occurs occasionally in Central India, and in the upper 

 provinces as far as Bareilly ; but it is rare in all these localities, and perhaps only stragglers find their way 

 so far. In Lower Bengal it is tolerably abundant in clamp grassy meadows, the edges of indigo-fields, and 

 in the grass on the roadsides; and in Burmah it was, in the month of July, the only Quail I observed." 

 Following up these remarks I find that it has not been met with by recent naturalists in the Deccan, and that 

 little is said in ' Stray Feathers ' about its occurrence anywhere in India. Mr. Ball remarks that it occurs 

 rarely in Chota Nagpur ; and Mr. Hume records it from Raipur only as regards that part of India. In the 

 British Museum there is a specimen from Nepal. On the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal it becomes 



northern confines of India it is resident ; for, according to Dr. Scully, it is a permanent inhabitant of the plains of 

 Kasgharia, and in these regions it has been obtained by Dr. Henderson as high as 13,500 feet at the Karatag lake. In 

 the northern and south-western districts of Turkestan, Severtzoff states that it is resident up to 1000 feet. In Persia, 

 writes Mr. Blanford, it is common in the summer, leaving there for India in the cold season. 



It is an inhabitant of all Europe as far north as Archangel, and is tolerably common in Great Britain, extending in 

 the breeding-season to the north of Scotland and also of Ireland. Throughout the continent of Africa it ranges as far 

 as the extreme south, extending into Madagascar, whence Professor Newton has received it, and it has been obtained 

 even in the island of Mauritius. It is, however, principally a winter bird in Africa, migrating, according to Captain 

 Shelley, through Egypt on its way to Europe in March, and returning again in November. Layard states that they arrive 

 in South Africa in August, some making their appearance as early as the 15th. The Atlantic islands are also included 

 by this wandering little bird in its travels ; for it is found in Madeira and the Canary Islands, and likewise in the Cape 

 de Verdes and Azores. 



Habits. — Concerning the Quail's habits in India (with which I merely have to do in such a curt notice as this) we 

 read in Jerdon that it is there " found in long grass, corn-fields, stubble, and fields of pulse, wandering about according 

 as the crops ripen in different parts of the country. ... In parts of Bengal they abound to such an extent that seventy- 



