150 



8 



cultivated lands on all the islands, and even in the gardens. It is not migratory here, and 

 is said to have two, and sometimes even three, nests in the year. It is certainly exceedingly 

 numerous, and affords excellent sport ; on one occasion a Portuguese gentleman and I killed 157 

 in a few hours." Dr. C. Bolle, writing on the ornithology of the Canaries, states (J. f. O. 1855, 

 p. 173) that it is " very plentiful on all the islands, where, it is said, it breeds twice, and even 

 three times in the year, and as late as August. It is also stated that some leave the country in 

 the wintei 1 , but that the majority do not migrate, and feed during the cold weather on the 

 orange-coloured berries of the Daphne gnidium. At Fuerteventura I have shot many of them on 

 stubble-fields after the harvest, which takes place there in April. The best shooting-season is 

 in September and October, at which time the Quails are extremely fat. A good sportsman can 

 kill as many as fifty in one day at the Rodeos." He further adds (J. f. O. 1857, p. 334) that he 

 heard the first in Canaria in 1856, in May, on the Cumbre of Tejada, and subsequently near 

 Tenteniguada, and all along the elevated mountain-ridges. There are specimens in the British 

 Museum from the Cape-Verd Islands ; and Professor Barboza du Bocage records it from Angola 

 and the Island of St. Thomas. Andersson (B. of Damara Land, p. 249) states that it is not 

 uncommon in Middle and Southern Damara Land; and he adds that during the year 1865 

 countless numbers of Quails arrived in the neighbourhood of Capetown ; whilst much of the 

 rest of the colony, which had suffered severely from drought, was nearly denuded of these birds. 

 According to Mr. E. L. Layard it usually arrives in the Cape colony about the end of August, 

 and sometimes as early as the 15th of that month, in great numbers. Mr. Ayres states (Ibis, 

 1874, p. 103) that it is pretty generally distributed in the Transvaal, and is tolerably plentiful 

 amongst the grass along the banks of the river about five miles from Potchefstroom ; and 

 Mr. Barrett writes (Ibis, 1876, p. 208), in his paper on the ornithology of the Lydenburg district, 

 that he has "shot this Quail in the Chalumna district, British Kaffraria, where it arrived in 

 great numbers about the end of August. In the Transvaal it is widely distributed. I have shot 

 it near Pretoria, Rustenberg, Nazareth, and many other places. I received my last from Marico 

 district." I have examined specimens from Mauritius; and Professor Newton writes (Ibis, 1863, 

 p. 454) that he received, through Mr. Caldwell, a skin from Antananarivo, in Madagascar, where 

 it is said to be not uncommon. 



To the eastward the present species is found as far as Japan. It breeds in Turkestan ; and 

 according to Mr. Blanford (E. Persia, ii. p. 278) it is " common in Persia in all cultivated fields 

 during the time the crops are green : it leaves the Persian highlands in winter, resorting to India." 

 He says, " I heard Quail calling in the green crops at Bampur at the beginning of April, at less 

 than 2000 feet above the sea, at about 5000 to 6000 feet in May, and at Kohrud, between 

 Isfahan and Tehran, 7000 feet above the sea, in the middle of July, and I have no doubt but 

 that they breed at different times according to the elevation." Mr. A. O. Hume states (Stray 

 Feathers, i. p. 227) that he met with it constantly in Sindh, though never far from cultivation, 

 usually in scattered pairs ; but he was told that in certain seasons they are very plentiful. 

 According to Dr. Jerdon (B. of India, ii. p. 587) it is found throughout India in considerable 

 numbers during the cold weather, most migrating during the rains, and breeding elsewhere, but a 

 few pairs remaining and breeding in various parts of the country, especially towards the west and 

 north-west. Dr. Henderson writes (Lahore to Yarkand, p. 284) that " one specimen of the common 





