94 



COTUENIX. 



57. Cotumix communis. The Common or Grey Quail. 



Bateyr, Upper India; Bat3i\ro, Sind ; Bairi, Lower Bengal ; So\po\, Manipur ; Botah- 

 surrai, Assam; Burganji, Beccan; Burli, Belgaom; Sipale-haki, Mysore; Watwalak, 

 Kashgar. 



<y, 2 6f" to 8J"; 3 to 4J oz. Legs fleshy pink. Bill grey-brown. Male: 

 Double collar with, black band down middle of throat. Above brown with yellow 

 shaft streaks, black patches, and cross marks. Quills brown, the first with outer 

 border white, the other primaries and secondaries barred on outer webs rufous 

 (see illustration). Lower plumage and sides pale rufous, with paler shaft streaks 

 (see illustration). — Femqle : Larger than male, with brown spots on breast. No 

 black throat line. Feathers on chin and throat short and rounded. — Young birds 

 ashy, spotted black or brown. 



Mulleer, 22.9.72. 



Sykes, Yarrell, and others say this was the Quail of the Israelites (see No. 5). 



The Grey Quail is migratory, and is found throughout the greater part of 

 Europe, Asia, and Africa. They generally arrive in N. India from C. Asia in 

 September; occasionally in Sind as early as 16th August, but these come probably 

 from Arabia and Persia, and remain for a few days only. They leave N. India 

 in December and January for the south, returning for the wheat and barley 

 harvests in February, March, and April, finally leaving northward in May. 

 A few breed in India, and Hume asks (ii. p. 136), "Are these birds the 

 representatives of a permanently resident race?" Six to ten eggs (1-18 x 0-89), 

 buff, speckled brown. 



The call of the Grey Quail is trisyllabic — Whit/ Whit-whit. ' 



"A group of men talking and lounging round a field of waving barley clearly indicates that 

 something is on hand, and this something is merely the preliminary to net such Quail as may 

 have sought shelter in the cover before the crop is cut. The aiTangement is very simple. 

 A few cone-shaped cages, covered with coloured cloth, containing the call birds, are suspended. 



