The Quail. -^ 



particularly abundant, many pairs remaining throughout the winter. It extends 

 also from North Africa down to the Cape of Good Hope, and is even better known 

 in Persia and India than it is in England, extending as far east as Japan. Most 

 naturalists agree with Mr. Ogilvie Grant in assigning separate specific rank to 

 the Quail of China and Japan fCoturnix japonicaj . The male of this eastern bird 

 differs from the European Quail in having the throat uniform dull brick-red, 

 without any trace of the black anchor-shaped mark of the European Quail. 



During migration they fly in countless numbers, which are spoken of by those 

 who have seen them, as amounting to millions. Colonel Tickell, a well-known 

 Indian ornithologist and sportsman, described the numbers existing in some parts 

 of India as so great, that the shooting of them was mere slaughter. He said that 

 a good shot would bag fifty or sixty brace in about three hours, and speaking of 

 an Island in the Ganges which was sown with gram, he writes : — " I do not 

 exaggerate when I say they were like locusts in number, every step that brushed 

 the covert sent off a number of them so great that I had to stand like a statue 

 and load and fire." In the migrations which take place from Africa across the 

 Mediterranean into Europe, vast numbers are captured in nets which are put up 

 on the sea coast of France and Italy. An exhaustive summary of the methods 

 of capturing Quail employed in different parts of the world, is furnished in 

 " Macpherson's History of Fowling," pp. 361-388. 



The pairing note of the Quail is well known. In many parts of the country 

 the bird is called " Wet my feet," from its trisyllabic call, which is rarely heard 

 in the heat of the day, but usually during the evening and throughout the night 

 in the months of May or June. Other authors describe the call-note differently. 

 Thus Mr. Seebohm says : — " The familiar call of the Quail, which is said to be 

 confined to the male only, is a clear flute-like note, or succession of three notes, 

 which, though not very loud, can nevertheless be heard at a considerable distance. 

 This note may be best represented by the syllables click-lik-lik, the accent some- 

 times being on the first and sometimes on the second syllable. The female replies 

 by a double note, low and unmusical, .which appears to be common to both sexes. 

 The alarm-note, when the bird is suddenly surprised, is very similar to that of 

 the Partridge." 



The males fight desperately for possession of the females, occasionally even 

 to a fatal extent. They were formerly kept for fighting in Europe, and this is 

 still done in the East. The breeding in this country usually occurs in June, the 

 nest being a small hollow in the ground. The female alone incubates, and the 

 young birds, like all the Phasianidce, are able to run about soon after they are 

 hatched. Mr. Dresser says: — "There appears to be little doubt that the present 



