90 QUAIL. 



(Cork) states, that in almost every instance in which he has found the young brood, the 

 two old birds were with them. My friend, William Ogilby, Esq. furnishes this interesting 

 note: — "In walking through a grass field on my farm at Liscleen, (Tyrone,) about the 15th. 

 or 16th. of May, 1849, I suddenly flushed a Quail, which rose so close to my feet that 

 I was very nearly trampling on it. On looking down, I readily distinguished the lair in 

 which it had been sitting, with a small heap of droppings on one side, evidently indicative 

 that the place had been occupied for some days. But my curiosity was excited by perceiving- 

 close by (within about a foot,) a dead Quail, which I presume must have been its mate, 

 and which, from its condition, I should judge to have lain there for four or five days; 

 during all which time it was apparent that the widoAved survivor had never deserted the 

 body. This instance of fidelity in a class of birds, of the mental character of which we 

 know so little, strongly attracted my attention, and I think may possibly be interesting 

 to you in more respects than one. You will draw your own conclusion as to the value 

 of the anecdote in its bearing on the cpiestion of the monogamous or polygamous habits of 

 the Quail. The crop of the dead bird was distended with seeds of grass, mixed with a 

 large number of Scarabasi and other insects." These facts certainly go a long way to 

 prove that these birds are monogamous, in these countries at any rate, whatever they 

 may be on the continent. 



The note of the Quail has been variously expressed by different observers ; Mr. Thompson 

 compares it to the words, 'wet-my-foot ;' Meyer says that in the spring of the year they 

 say 'bubewee or brubrub :' when frightened they chirp like young chickens ; and if caged 

 during the time of migration they incessantly repeat the word 'pievoi-ree, pievoi-ree,' 

 in a fretful tone, at the same time endeavouring to escape. It has also been compared 

 to 'whit, whit, wheet,' 'pickerwick' or 'peek-weet-weet.' We have always thought the 

 endeavouring to express the notes of birds, by syllables, a very unsatisfactory method; 

 there are to be sure some exceptions, such as the Kittiwake, and the Peewit, where the 

 note is admirably expressed by the name ; but let any one attempt to realize, in the fields, 

 half the strange sounds attributed to birds on paper, and he will soon be disgusted with 

 this method of becoming acquainted with the birds, and will seek some other and more 

 satisfactory plan. We make these remarks without in any way attempting to solve the 

 difficulty; we feel it far too strongly to hope that we should ever be able to surmount 

 what lias been so unsatisfactorily attempted by others, far better qualified than we can 

 pretend to be, for this particular duty. 



"On more than one occasion in the summer of 1846, Quails, when flying across Belfast 

 Bay by night, were heard to utter their ordinary call." 



The food of the Quail, like that of other gallinaceous birds, is varied. Mr. Thompson 

 examined the crops of about thirty Quails, shot during winter and early spring, and 

 found that seven-eighths of the contents consisted of the seeds of various weeds, among 



