144 



deseendit : gutture imo cum pectore pallide ferrugineis, lineolis longitudinalibus albidis notatis : 

 corpore reliquo subtus cervino-albido, hypochondriis ferrugineis cervino striatis : rostro fusco : iride 

 fusca : pedibus fusco-incarnatis. 



2 ad. corpore supra sicut in mare picturato : gula albida, pectore maculis nigricantibus notato. 



Adult Male (Leadenhall Market) . Crown and nape blackish brown, variegated with reddish buff, and with 

 a central and two lateral lines of buff; back, scapulars, lesser wing-coverts, and ramp warm light 

 brown, broadly variegated with black and dark brown, and marked with long dashes of light buff; 

 wings dull, rather dark brown, barred with buffy brown, and slightly marked with blackish brown ; tail 

 short, nearly concealed by the tail-coverts, dark brown, barred with buff; sides of the head pale brown ; 

 sides of the neck and the entire throat buffy white, a black patch covering the chin, and centre of the 

 throat having a black band at the base ; below this, again, is a rufous band, and the sides of the neck 

 are washed with rufous ; breast pale rufous, dashed with white ; rest of the underparts buffy white ; 

 the flanks rufous, with central buff stripes ; bill brownish horn ; iris brown ; legs fleshy brown. Total 

 length about 7 inches, culmen 0'5, wing 4'15, tail l - 6, tarsus 11. 



Adult Female (Andalucia). Upper parts as in the male; but the chin and throat are buffy white, unmarked 

 with black, and the breast is reddish buff, spotted with blackish brown. 



Young in half down (France) . Centre of the crown dark brown with a central buff stripe ; sides of the 

 crown warm reddish buff ; upper parts generally blackish brown, barred with warm buff, and marked 

 with long buffy white stripes ; chin, throat, and sides of the head buffy white ; rest of the underparts 

 buffy white, closely spotted with blackish brown. 



Obs. The variation in the coloration, and more especially in that of the throat, of the male Quail is very 

 great, and has been remarked and commented on by many authors. One would certainly be inclined 

 to separate it into two or three species, were it not that in a series of specimens the variation exhibited 

 is so great as to make it impossible to draw the line anywhere. The ordinary form has the throat 

 buffy white or rusty buff, encircled below by two semicircular bands of a rusty brown or dark brown 

 colour, which join similarly coloured lines down each side of the head ; but one sees almost as frequently 

 specimens with the throat partially or almost entirely covered with a blackish brown or rusty brown 

 patch ; and another extreme form has the entire throat and sides of the head rich rusty red. This last 

 form is but seldom seen in Northern and Central Europe ; but I have seen examples from Southern 

 Europe, and it appears to be the predominant form in the Azores, Cape-Verd Islands, Mauritius, South 

 Africa, China, and Japan : in some of these, however, there is more or less black on ihe throat. A 

 specimen from Spain closely resembles examples from Japan in having the throat rusty red, but has 

 the rest of the plumage rather duller in colour. Examples from the Azores are much smaller than the 

 average of European examples, the wing measuring only 3 - 6 to 3 - 8 inches, and are rather more richly 

 and brightly coloured, the throat is rusty red, in some without any black, whereas in others there is a 

 small or large patch of blackish brown on the chin and throat. 



Specimens from the Cape-Verd Islands closely resemble those from the Azores; and there is one from 

 Mauritius in the British Museum which is very dark in general coloration, and has a red throat. I 

 possess three males from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, one of which has the throat pale rufous buff, one 

 still lighter, and the third rich rufous, all three having the black on the throat much developed; and 

 the breast is more rufous than in European examples, the upper parts being much darker. A male from 

 Yarkand has the throat white, the two semicircular bands rusty brown, and a long blackish brown spot 

 on the chin ; and the upper parts are pale in coloration. 



Specimens from China and Japan have the sides of the face and the entire throat rich rusty red, with but 



