PHASIANIDJE COTUENIX 223 



fort Eoad (B. Hamilton), Basutoland, January to September 

 (Murray) ; Transvaal— Potchefstroom, March and July (Ayres) 

 Eustenburg and Pretoria (Barratt), Johannesburg August to 

 February (Gilfillan), Barberton, February (Eendall) ; Ehodesia — 

 near Salisbury (Marshall) ; German South-west Africa — Damara- 

 land (Andersson), Kalahari, May (Fleck) ; Portuguese East Africa 

 — Inhambane (Peters). 



Habits. — A certain number of Quails can be found at all times 

 of the year in most parts of South Africa where suitable conditions 

 exist, but the bulk of the birds are irregular migrants, the move- 

 ments of which seem to depend on the rainfall and the consequent 

 existence of fresh grass ; in most cases the migrating flocks remain 

 about a month or six weeks in one spot and then disappear. 



A glance at the list of localities will show how varied are the 

 times of their appearance. As in Europe, their migratory move- 

 ments take place at night, hence the suddenness of their coming 

 and going so often remarked upon. Layard states that they arrive 

 in the neighbourhood of Cape Town about the middle or end of 

 August ; at first they are chiefly found about the grassy plains 

 covered here and there with stunted bush, subsequently, as the corn 

 springs up, in cultivated fields. 



They feed chiefly on grass seeds, but also on insects, and they are 

 very quick on the wing, though seldom flying far when flushed. 

 The note, gene|;'ally heard in the afternoon, is a " whitt-whitt whitt 

 whitt," pronounced sharply with the lips, the second "whitt" 

 being accentuated. 



The eggs, six to twelve in number, are laid in a depression in 

 the ground, lined with grass, sometimes in the standing crops, 

 sometimes under the shelter of a bush ; they are a yellowish-brown 

 spotted with darker brown, sometimes very finely marked, some- 

 times with the spots forming large, irregular blotches ; they measure 

 on an average 1-15 x '90. Eriksson found a nest in the North- 

 western Transvaal on March 3 ; in the neighbourhood of the Cape 

 and most parts of the Colony they breed soon after they arrive in 

 September or October. 



Mr. Wood writes that the Quails arrive in the neighbourhood of 

 East London as a rule early in September. They hardly make a 

 nest at all and as often as not lay their eggs on the bare ground ; 

 the clutch numbers nine or ten ; by the middle of November the 

 young are on the wing and as a rule they will all have moved off 

 early in December. 



