AND NEIGSBOUEHOOD. 313 



succession. The nest is a very simple affair, a mere 

 scratching of the ground, with a few dry bents as 

 lining, and in our experience is generally met with 

 in grass, lucerne, or common clover. We never 

 found more than ten eggs in a nest, bat more are 

 often laid. Of the date of hatching in this country 

 we can say nothing, but in Greece, Turkey, and 

 Spain have met with young Quails perfectly full- 

 feathered and fit to shoot by the middle of August, 

 when they are generally covered with fat, and most 

 delicious as food. This species is the only repre- 

 sentative of the genus Coturnix that is found in 

 Europe, and its range extends from Scandinavia to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Azores to 

 Japan. We have met with the Quail in every part 

 of Europe and North Africa that we have visited, but 

 nowhere in such abundance as in the Ionian Islands 

 during the vernal migration : their numbers, however, 

 at this season vary greatly, and though in the latter 

 end of April 1857 Corfu and the neighbouring 

 islands of Paxo, Antipaxo, and Fano were literally 

 swarming with Quails for three or four days, at the 

 corresponding season of the year 1858 it was difficult 

 to bag more than ten or fifteen couples in the most 

 favoured localities. This Spring-Quail shooting on 

 the western side of Corfu is rather hard work, as the 

 birds are principally found in the currant-vines on 

 very steep hill-sides ; and we have shot many a 

 Quail which fell from 100 to 150 feet, and had to be 

 retrieved by scrambling down through the interlaced 

 branches of the terraced vines aforesaid under a 

 warm sun. In our opinion the birds at this season 

 are hardly worth the trouble they cost in the locality 

 just mentioned, but the lovely scenery of Corfu and 



