COMMON QUAIL. 123 
COMMON QUAIL. 
Coturnix communis, Bonn. 
Pi. AIX. fees. 1, 2. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe generally, except the extreme north; Asia as 
far east as Japan; Africa as far south as the Cape and Madagascar : 
tolerably common and partly resident in Great Britain, breeding here 
and there sparingly up to the north of Scotland. 
Food.—Seeds, grain, berries, leaves, and insects. 
Nest.—A mere depression scratched in the ground, and lined with a 
small quantity of dry grass or stems of plants. 
Position of nest.—In meadows or fields of growing grain. 
Number of eggs.—6-14; usually 10. 
Time of nidification.—VI1-VII. 
This species is either monogamous or polygamous. The 
male is said to have a distinct cry in addition to its 
ordinary note; this cry has been syllabled thus—“ ouen, 
ouen.” 
The Quail emigrates from Europe to Africa in vast flocks. 
It is a regular summer visitant to Great Britain, but seldom 
arrives earlier than May, when it chiefly confines itself to 
sandy soils. ‘‘ Some twenty years ago,” says Mr. Harting, 
“it used to breed regularly on the fen-lands between New- 
market and Cambridge. The nests were placed in slight 
scratchings or natural hollows in hay or rough grass, 
generally at no great distance from some marsh wall, or 
other commanding elevation, on which in the twilight the 
male might be seen disporting himself.” 
Mr. Howard Saunders, speaking of their distribution in 
England, says:—‘‘Sparingly distributed throughout the 
country, there are few districts in which Quails have not 
at one time or another been recorded as breeding; and 
few also in which their appearance can be counted upon 
either with regularity or in anything like average numbers. 
In some parts of Cornwall a good many are bred, the year 
1870 having proved unusually favourable for hatching ; and 
about Bridgewater in Somersetshire a fair number nest 
annually. In other parts of the west they appear to be 
uncommon—at least, beyond Breconshire and Cheshire ; 
but eastward they are to be found scattered about most, if 
not all, of the southern and midland counties.’’—(Yarrell’s 
Hist. Brit. Birds, 4th ed., vol. iii., p. 124.) 
