178 Order XL Gallirm 



of its harassing its kin is now but seldom heard. The 

 upper parts are bright brown, with grey crown and 

 chestnut tail ; the throat is white, the breast grey, 

 the flanks grey beautifully barred with chestnut and 

 black, the belly buff; a black gorget surrounds the 

 throat ; the bUl and feet are red. 



In some seasons the Quail {Coturnix coturnix) is 

 much more abundant than in others, though, possibly 

 owing to the immense numbers killed on passage in 

 the south of Europe, it no longer breeds with us regu- 

 larly. Nests have, however, been found even in 

 Shetland, and the bird ranges from the Fseroes across 

 Europe and Asia, as well as to north Africa. In the 

 rest of Africa, the Atlantic Islands, Japan, and else- 

 where we meet with different forms, perhaps hardly to 

 be considered distinct species. When Quails were 

 plentiful in Britain, only a small proportion of them 

 were resident. In shape like a Partridge the male is 

 of a similar brown colour, but instead of a brown 

 " horse-shoe " on the breast has two brown bands on 

 the sides of the neck running down to a patch of 

 a blacker tint in front. The colours in the female are 

 less distinct, but she is bigger than the male, as is the 

 case in the allied foreign genus Turnix (Button-quaU). 

 The habits agree with those of the Partridge, though 

 the nest, of the slightest description, is more often 

 among growing crops, while the eggs are whitish boldly 

 marked with brown. The triple note of the male is 

 very peculiar and can hardly be mistaken ; that of 

 the female is low and attracts little attention. 



