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seldom any trace of a black spot, and are a trifle smaller in size than the average of European birds ; 

 and this extreme form seems almost to be the only one found in Eastern Asia. I was at first inclined 

 to treat this form as distinct ; but I found examples from Southern Europe, the Azores, and Mauritius 

 precisely agreeing with others from China and Japan. 

 Naumann cites all the above varieties as occurring in Germany, and says that those which have the throat 

 and cheeks dark rusty brown are called " Mohrenwachteln," those which have the throat banded with 

 dark brown on a white or a rusty yellowish ground are called " Kreuzwachteln," and those with the 

 black patch on the throat " Kohlh'ahne." He also adds that there is a great variation in size, some 

 being larger and others smaller. 



The range of the Quail is very great ; for it is found throughout the whole of Europe, except in 

 the far north, in Asia as far east as Japan, and in Africa as far south as the Cape colony. In 

 Great Britain it is tolerably common, and breeds throughout the country here and there up to 

 the north of Scotland. Mr. A. G. More, in his article on the distribution of birds in Great 

 Britain (Ibis, 1865, p. 429), writes concerning it: — "Thinly scattered, during the breeding-season, 

 from the south of England to the very north of Scotland. Yet there are few counties in which 

 the Quail is considered to breed annually ; nor can these be grouped in any manner so as to show 

 where the species is most numerous. 



" It has certainly decreased of late years in several districts, and this apparently not owing 

 to any cause that can be discovered. In the west of Ireland the same diminution has been 

 noticed. In former times I am informed that the Quail was reckoned as one of the regular 

 winter visitors on the west side of the sister island, but it has not been so much observed of late 

 years. It is still considered to breed annually about Belfast; and in county Armagh I have 

 myself heard its note during the breeding-season. The bird is probably better known in the 

 north-east of Ireland than in any part of England or Scotland. 



" If there is any difference, the range of the Quail seems to incline rather to the east side 

 of Great Britain, as well as of Ireland, during the breeding-season. It seems to occur chiefly in 

 the south of England during winter." Mr. Cecil Smith informs me that, though never very 

 common in Somersetshire, it is found there at all seasons of the year, and he received the eggs 

 and the remains of a hen bird, which had been killed by a mowing-machine, in June. In Norfolk, 

 Mr. Stevenson says, it is far less numerous than it formerly used to be, but it breeds there in 

 several localities; and Mr. Cordeaux writes, respecting its occurrence in the Humber district 

 (B. of Humber Distr. p. 82), as follows : — " From what our oldest sportsmen have told me, I 

 gather that the Quail was by no means uncommon in Lincolnshire half a century since. Since 

 this period the drainage and improved cultivation of the marshes and fens, as well as the enclosure 

 and high farming of the ' wolds,' have so entirely changed the character of the district, and broken 

 up and destroyed their old haunts, that of late years they have been observed only as rare and 

 occasional visitants. 



" It has occasionally been shot in East Yorkshire. On the 24th of July, 1870, Mr. Boyes 

 found a nest of the Quail near Beverly, containing eleven eggs, on the side of a railway embank- 

 ment amongst grass &c. The nest was a slight hollow containing a few dead grasses, and the 

 eggs laid slovenly, some on the top of the others (see Zoologist, 1870, p. 2307). Mr. Alington 

 some years since fell in with a large bevy in the parish of Thoresway, on our wolds. 



