The Quail 



blotched with umber brown. The male has a melodious call- 

 note, which may be syllabled as " clerk, lib, lik," to which 

 -the female answers with a soft " peu, peu." The food consists 

 of grain," seeds, and insects, and at the times of migration 

 this bird becomes exceedingly fat and very good eating. 

 -The Quails that are found in our markets are usually snared 

 ; in Italy during the spring migration, and used to be sent 

 alive to this country, but they are now killed and sent dead. 

 It was a migration of this species that supplied the Children 

 of Israel with food in the desert, and large flocks still pass 

 through Palestine yearly on migration. 



The Quail is not unlike a small Partridge, and is of a 

 uniform sandy brown on the upper parts, with paler shafts 

 "to the feathers. The chin and throat are white, with two 

 brown crescentic bars, and sometimes a brown streak down 

 the centre. The breast is huffish and the under parts white. 

 This species shows a certain amount of variation in minor 

 details of plumage. Length 7 in. ; wing 4 - 4 in. 



THE LAND-RAIL 



Crex pratensls, Bechstein 



Grass lands throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland 

 form the summer home of this well-known and abundant 

 species. It is a migrant, arriving towards the end of April 

 -and leaving our shores again in September, though a few 

 individuals occasionally remain and pass the winter in 

 Ireland and some of the western counties of England. It 



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