224 PHASIANIDiB 



COTUKNIX 



661. Coturnix delagorguei. Harlequin Quail. 



Coturnix delagorguei, Delagorgue, Voy. Afr. Austr. ii. p. 615 (1847) ; 



Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 249 (1872) ; Oates, Matabele- 



land, p. S24 (1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 361 [near Vryburg] ; 



Sharpe, ed. Laywrd's B. 8. A fr. p. 605 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington, 



Sportsm. 8. A. p. 106 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 474 (1893) ; 



Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 243 (1893) ; id. Game Birds i, p. 187 



(1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 179 (1896) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 



445 ; Beichenow, Vbg. Afr. i, p. 507 (1901) ; Tredgold, Proc. Bhod. 



Sc. Assoc, iii, p. 3 (1902). 

 Coturnix histronica, Hartl., Bev. Mag. Zool. i, p. 495 (1849) Bayard, 



B. S. Afr. p. 275 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 75 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 



262. 

 Coturnix fornasini, Bianc, Spec. Zool. Mosanib. p. 299, pi. 1, fig. 2 (1865). 

 "Leguatha" of Matabele (Oates). 



Description. Adult Male. — General colour above blackish-brown 

 slightly mottled with rufous about the nape, with narrow paler 

 transverse bars and conspicuous pale yellow shaft streaks; primaries 

 blackish-brown not mottled ; a medium black patch extending down 

 the throat from the chin with two wings bending round to the ear- 

 coverts separating a white patch on both cheeks and a narrow band 

 of white running from the ear-coverts round the front of the neck ; 

 eyebrow white, ear-coverts dusky black ; breast and rest of the 

 lower surface rich chestnut, the whole of the centre of the breast 

 occupied by a large patch of velvety black ; a streak of the same 

 colour extends on to the flanks. 



Iris rich brown ; bill black ; legs salmon. 



Length 5'85 ; wing 3-60 ; tail 1*0 ; culmen 45 ; tarsus '95. 



The female has the chin and throat white, the sides of the neck 

 and cheeks buffy white spotted with black, the rest of the lower 

 surface dull chestnut with black spots and mottlings on the upper 

 breast and along the flanks. 



Mr. Tredgold found the female to be a little larger, averaging 

 7'06 against 6'8 for the male and also weighing a little more, 3'6 

 oz. against 3-2 oz. 



Distribution. — The Harlequin Quail, which was first discovered 

 by the French traveller Delagorgue, on the banks of the upper Lim- 

 popo, and to which he attached his own name, appears to be found 

 over the greater part of Africa from the Island of St. Thomas in the 

 west and Kordofan and the middle Nile in the east, southwards to 

 Cape Colony. 



Within our limits it is met with chiefly in the eastern half of 



