338 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



not heard the phrase in Westmorland, but reminds me that 

 such expressions as ' a balmy day ' and ' balmy weather ' are in 

 general use. 



QUAIL. 



Coturnix communis, Bonnat. 



I question if the Quail was ever a very abundant visitor to 

 Lakeland. No doubt it was always well known in some 

 favourite localities, or Richardson would not have mentioned its 

 local name, ' Wet-my-feet ; ' yet we know the view of his con- 

 temporary, Dr. Heysham, who says : ■ The quail is not plentiful 

 in Cumberland. They breed here ; but the whole, or most of 

 them, disappear towards the latter end of October.' Curiously 

 enough, the only reference to the Quail in the Accounts of Lord 

 William Howard relates to a bird killed in winter. Referring to 

 the payments made between the 12 th and 19 th of December 

 1618, we find this entry : ' A partrige, vi d . A quale, iiij d . 

 A skeldrake, iiij d .' There can be no question as to the accuracy 

 of this, because odd birds have several times been killed with us 

 in mid-winter. For example, a male Quail was shot at Kirk- 

 bride on the 29 th of December 1831, and T. C. Heysham pro- 

 nounced it to be in excellent condition. Mr. Woodham shot a 

 Quail on Foulmire moss on the 26th of December 1871, and 

 Mr. Pearson saw a Quail when shooting at Eampside, November 

 7,1885. 



The Quail ranks as an irregular summer visitant, thinly 

 .scattered over the cultivated parts of our area. Its trisyllabic 

 call-note is usually heard in the neighbourhood of Allonby in 

 the month of May : it is partial also to the valley of the Eden. 

 It was fairly numerous at the time of the Franco-German War. 

 The older sportsmen with whom I have conversed agree that, 

 when they were young, ' bevies ' of Quails were far from un- 

 common. Dr. Gough in 1861 included the Quail as a rare 

 occasional visitant to the neighbourhood of Kendal, — 'formerly 

 a regular summer visitant.' Mr. W. A. Durnford says that it is 

 now rare in Furness, though stated to have been not uncommon 

 formerly. The only local clutch of the eggs of the Quail that I 

 have personally seen was taken by Mr. Gabriel about ten years 



