110 TETRAONID.E. 



Although the call-note of the Quail may be heard about 

 the middle of May, it is very seldom that any eggs are 

 found before the month of July, or at the soonest by the 

 end of June. The chosen place for a nest is frequently 

 among peas or wheat, where the female makes a hole in the 

 ground, and in it deposits her eggs, from eight to fourteen 

 in number. After eighteen days' 1 incubation the young make 

 their appearance and run about as soon as they are out of 

 the shell and dry, and follow the parent bird, who instructs 

 them in finding and feeding on ants' eggs and small insects, 

 until they become strong enough to feed on seeds and 

 grain. 



The Quail affords many persons a living during the 

 time of migration, either in the spring or the autumn. Its 

 flesh is highly prized, and consequently great numbers are 

 annually caught in the south of Europe for the supply of 

 the table. Many are also brought over to this country from 

 France for the London market : these birds are put in cages 

 as soon as caught, and thus forwarded alive. 



The manner in which the Quail is caught is either by 

 means of a mouth-piece or whistle, with which the call- 

 note of the bird is imitated, and thus the birds are drawn 

 into a net ; or else a hen-bird is caged and used as a call- 

 bird in the same way. The nets used for catching Quails 

 are of a square shape and placed in the standing corn, or 

 close beside it ; and as the birds run or flutter to reach the 

 spot where the supposed mate is, they become entangled in 

 the net. 



The Quail measures eight inches in length. The beak 

 is bluish horn-colour, the iris amber, the legs yellowish 

 brown. The crown of the head is yellowish white ; along each 

 side of which runs a rufous brown band, beginning from 

 the nostril and terminating in the nape : above the eye 

 passes another yellowish white line in the same direction. 

 On the chin and throat is a black mark, which turns upwards 



