250 



Adult Female (Malaga, 25th April) . Crown blackish brown, slightly marked with reddish brown, and with 

 a central brownish buff streak ; cheeks, sides of the head, and upper throat buffy white, closely barred 

 with black; upper parts blackish brown transversely marked with chestnut and black, most of the 

 feathers having also buffy white margins ; wing-coverts boldly blotched or spotted with blackish on a 

 dull rufescent or ochreous-chestnut ground, and broadly marked with buffy white ; quills blackish 

 brown, externally narrowly margined with buffy white; sides of the throat, neck, and flanks buffy 

 white, with a large crescent-shaped mark of blackish brown on each feather ; centre of the throat warm 

 pale ferruginous, gradually fading towards the abdomen into buffy white; under tail-coverts warm 

 ochreous ; bill dull flesh-colour at the base, becoming blackish at the tip ; iris light yellowish brown ; 

 legs light brown. Total length about 8 inches, culmen 06, wing 3 - 6, tail 1/7, tarsus 1/05. 



Adult Male (Algeria, December) . Differs from the female in being smaller, in having the upper parts less 

 richly coloured and the white margins larger, the chin and upper throat white, the underparts much 

 paler, and the markings on the sides of the throat smaller and only extending to the upper flanks. 

 Total length about 6'5 inches, culmen 0'5, wing 3"25, tail 1*7, tarsus I/O. 



I have described the male in winter plumage, as the sexes do not differ much in plumage, but only in size, 

 but the winter dress differs somewhat from that worn in the summer, being duller, the underparts 

 whiter, and the margins to the feathers on the upper parts broader. 



Young. Resembles the adult in winter dress ; but there is more white in the markings of the plumage, the 

 underparts are white, and the markings on the sides of the neck and flanks are reduced to dark brown 

 dashes or blotches. 



Young in down {fide Loche) . Covered with down, black, white, and rufous in coloration ; there is a black 

 stripe on the centre of the head, and three similar ones on the back, which are continued to the rump. 



Beiito a resident species in the localities it inhabits, the present bird has not a wide' range; for 

 it has only been found in Southern Europe and North Africa, except as a rare straggler : in one 

 instance it has been obtained as far distant from its usual haunts as the British Isles, where a 

 single specimen was shot on the 29th October, 1844, near Chipping Norton, in Oxfordshire. It 

 has not occurred in Scandinavia or Germany ; and in France it appears to be only known in the 

 extreme south, where it is stated to have rarely occurred; but Professor Barboza du Bocage 

 includes it in his list of the birds of Portugal as being common in Alemtejo. In Spain it is, 

 according to Mr. Howard Saunders (Ibis, 1871, p. 224), "abundant near Algesiras, and not 

 uncommon near Malaga in April ; but elsewhere probably rare ;" and Colonel Irby writes (Orn. 

 Str. Gibr. p. 140) as follows : — " On the Spanish side [of the Straits] I was unable to detect any 

 migration of this Bush-Quail, though it is said by Andalucian bird-catchers and cazadores to be 

 migratory. The probability is that they are so ; but yet I am inclined to think the reverse, as 

 they are found in the same localities in equal numbers at all seasons of the year. 



" Near Gibraltar it is a very local bird and nowhere plentiful, apparently less so than is 

 really the case ; for they are difficult birds to flush, and if put up once will rarely rise a second 

 time. Scattered here and there, they chiefly frequent palmetto scrub, and appear to be most 

 common near the coast, being more abundant to the east of the Queen of Spain's chair, especially 

 about the Lomo del Rey and a place called Los Agusaderas. In their flight and habits, from 

 what I could observe of them, they resemble the Indian Bush-Quail {Turnix dussumieri). 



