130 GAME BIRDS OF INDIA AND ASIA. 



with the wing, which is longer in proportion than in 

 any other bird in the family, four to four-and-a- 

 half inches ; the shank is about an inch long. The 

 hens run larger than the cocks, though the differ- 

 ence is not striking. The weight is between three 

 and four ounces. 



This is the most widely-spread and thoroughly 

 migratory species of the present family ; it is 

 found over most of Europe, Asia, and Africa, breed- 

 ing in the northern parts of its range and moving 

 southwards m winter. Great numbers are caught 

 on migration and many must perish at sea ; T re- 

 member, many years ago, I saw one poor little thing 

 try to board a ship I was on in the Red Sea, and, 

 striking the side, fall into the water. Another, 

 less utterly exhausted, was caught on board and 

 ultimately reached the London Zoological Gardens. 

 Most of our Empire is visited by this bird in winter, 

 but it is most abundant in Northern India, rare in 

 Burma, and absent from Ceylon and Tenasserim. 

 Some come over sea on to our Western coasts — Sind, 

 Cutch and Guzerat — ^but most cross the Himalayas 

 from Central Asia, and these arrive earlier. 



Their distribution with us varies with the season 

 they encounter on reaching India. If there is 

 plenty of food in the north, most of them stay 

 there, but in years when the crops are deficient 

 there, they move southward to a greater extent ; 

 moreover, in some years a great many more birds 

 arrive than in others. In the Calcutta bazaar 

 during the seven years I watched it, quails 

 only came into the ordinary bird-sellers' hands 

 one winter, 1899-1900 ; then the men had plenty 

 of them, and they were reported as being unusually 



