25- 



t) 



fresh. It was placed on the ground in the midst of a dense thicket of underwood, most 

 ingeniously concealed, and where no dog could penetrate to put up the bird. It was in such 

 situations that I had frequently before found the Hemipode, which never occurs in the plains or 

 in the desert. When disturbed, it is scarcely possible to make it take wing. When beaten out 

 of a bush, it half runs, half flies to the nearest cover, somewhat after the manner and with much 

 of the appearance of Baillon's Crake. I do not believe that it migrates in the Atlas, as specimens 

 are occasionally found at all times of the year ; nor does it appear ever to congregate, either in 

 flocks or bevies, after the manner of the Quail, to which, indeed, in all its habits it affords a 

 striking contrast." Colonel Irby (I. c), writing respecting the nidification of the present species, 

 says, " the nest is, from the skulking habits of the bird, extremely difficult to obtain. I never 

 had the good fortune to find one, but had one lot of eggs brought to me from near San Roque 

 on the 6th July, 1869. The finder said the nest was under shelter of a palmetto bush, and 

 merely consisted of a few bits of dried grass. These eggs, four in number (which is, without 

 doubt, the regular complement laid by all the Bush-Quails, Turnix), were very slightly incubated, 

 and in appearance much resemble those of the common Pratincole (Glareola torquata), only being, 

 of course, much more diminutive. Later in July I received several eggs from Mogador, which 

 exactly resembled the Spanish ones ; but not having been blown, and being hard sat-on, the shells 

 were so tender and rotten that I could do nothing with them. My friend Mr. Reid, of the Royal 

 Engineers, informs me that he had the luck to find a nest, placed in grass near the shore on the 

 eastern beach, on the 19th of May, 1873; this nest contained four eggs (incubated), as did 

 another from near Tangier obtained by Olcese." 



I possess eggs of the present species from Loche — some being from birds kept in captivity, 

 and others taken wild. The former are rather paler in coloration than the latter, which have 

 the ground-colour greyish or buffy white and are tolerably closely marked with pale purplish 

 neutral-tinted shell-spots and dark brown or purplish brown surface-blotches. In shape they 

 resemble the eggs of the common Quail, and in size vary from f % by f-g- to 1-£q by |-§ inch. 



The specimens figured are an adult female in full breeding-dress in the foreground, and a 

 male in winter plumage in the background, these being the birds above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, s . Gibraltar, December 1874 {Colonel Irby) . b, c, ? . Malaga, Spain, April 25th, 1869 (H. Saunders) . 

 d, d. Tangier (Olcese). e, <S . Algeria, December (Verreaux). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders. 



a, $ ■ Malaga, January 3rd, 1872. b, ? . Malaga, June 10th, 1872. c, 6 . Malaga, September 23rd, 1872 

 (H. S.). 



