GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. AND ASIA. 1 29 



The Common Quail. 



Coturnix communis, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 

 Vol. IV., p. 114. 



Native names. — Bater, Bar a bater, Gagus 

 baier, Hind. ; Batairo, in Sind ; Batri, 

 Bengali ; Gundri, Uriya ; Soipol, Mani- 

 puri ; Botah Surrai, Assamese ; Bur-ganja, 

 Gur-ganj, Poona and elsewhere ; BurE in 

 Belgaum ; Gogari-Yellachi, Telugu ; Peria- 

 ka-deh, Tamil ; Si-pale haki, Canarese. 



Both sexes of this species are much alike, the 

 plumage being a mixture of black, brown, and buff, 

 streaked with cream-colour ; there is a conspicuous 

 cream streak down the crown and eyebrow-stripes 

 of the same colour. Below, the plumage is buff, 

 darkening into reddish brown on the flanks, which 

 are spotted with blackish, and boldly marked 

 with whitish streaks. The pinion-quills are brown, 

 with buff bars on the outer web. The bill and eyes 

 are dark and the feet flesh-coloured. 



The male has the breast without spots, and the 

 throat dirty white with a dull black mark, shaped 

 somewhat like an anchor, the shank running down 

 the centre of the throat and the arms curving up 

 on each side. The female has the throat plain 

 whitish, but the breast is spotted with black. Al- 

 though there is a good deal of variation in tint in 

 this quail, Indian specimens are on the whole true 

 to colour, though some males occur with a rusty 

 ground-colour on the throat ; in Europe this, and 

 even the marking, is more variable : and this part 

 of the plumage may be entirely dark or rusty 

 brown. This quail is about eight inches long. 



