58 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



being laid before June. The nest is scanty, a mere hollow 

 amongst the corn or clover, or the rough grass of the weedy- 

 pastures, into which a few bits of dry grass and leaves are scraped. 

 In districts where the cocks run with several hens, the nests are 

 often placed not many yards apart. The eggs vary a good deal 

 in number. I have known nests contain twenty eggs, but from 

 eight to twelve is the usual clutch. They are bufEsh white or 

 yellowish olive in ground colour, boldly blotched and spotted 

 with various shades of brown, ranging from very pale olive to 

 nearly black. They measure on an average i i inch in length 

 by '91 inch in breadth. The hen bird alone incubates the eggs, 

 which are hatched in about twenty-one days. The young are 

 soon able to run after their parents and forage largely for them- 

 selves. It is said that the Quail sometimes rears two broods or 

 bevies in the season, but this must be under very exceptional 

 circumstances ; my experience is that if the first nests are taken 

 no other attempts are made. 



Diagnostic Characters. — Cohimix, with the general colour 

 of the plumage buff, and the chin and throat nearly black in the 

 male, buff in the female. Length, 7 inches. 



