THE COMMON OR GREY QUAIL. 1 35 



But both the time at which they arrive in any place and the 

 numbers in which they come, and the distance to which they 

 push southwards, depend upon the supply of food at their 

 breeding homes and in the country intervening between these 

 and the particular place in question. 



In some years, to begin with, many more Quail, probably 

 many millions more, visit India than in others. Again, as my 

 friend Mr. Davidson remarks, " if they find sufficient provision 

 in Upper India and Guzerat, the majority stay there, and 

 comparatively few are seen in the south, while in years like 

 1878 (when the crops were deficient in the north) immense 

 numbers come south." 



In ordinary years in Upper India, when the kharif har- 

 vest is over and the birds have pretty well gleaned the stubbles, 

 no large numbers of Quail are to be met with, except in particu- 

 lar localities. Enormous numbers are doubtless scattered over 

 the length and breadth of this vast region, but five or six brace 

 in a day would probably be as many as could be found ; while 

 in bad years hardly a bird would be seen. The majority, in 

 bad years nearly all, have gone south, and the more that leave 

 Upper India, the more go south, and the further south they push. 



As the wheat and barley and other spring crops begin to ripen, 

 in Upper India, from the end of February onwards, the Quail 

 begin to draw up northwards and westwards, and in years when 

 they find less to retain them in Southern and Central India, 

 they appear during March in Upper India 'm prodigious num- 

 — — — — — — —— — — ^__ _^__ _____ , , 



none of them did they breed. My remarks apply to those four districts. They are 

 found singly, in pairs, and small parties, and in no instance have I put up more than 

 seven in a party. The natives of the above mentioned districts do not catch them in 

 nets, as is done in other parts of India, but the Khasias of Sylhet casually noose them 

 with horse-hair nooses. Ten brace in a day is the largest bag I have heard of in any 

 of those districts." 



+ Mr. J. Davidson says : — " It is found abundantly in all the few districts in which I 

 have been stationed — in the Panch Mahals, Satara and Sholapur, in the Deccan, and 

 Tumkur, Mysore, but its numbers and time of arrival seem to depend entirely on the 

 season. I have known Grey-Quail to remain in the Deccan till the beginning of May, 

 and again, I have Seen them there as early as the middle of October. In the 

 Panch Mahals I have seen them in the very beginning of October. I don't think any 

 bred near Godra in the Panch Mahals in 1878, and I have never myself seen any- 

 thing to make me believe that they breed in any of the districts I have been in." 



Again, Mr. G. Vidal writes : — "In the Poona district, in the valleys of the Bhima 

 and Nira rivers, Grey Quail are, as a rule, plentiful, but the supply varies much 

 from season to season. As long as there are crops such as Sorghum, Gram, Tiiar 

 (Urhur), oil seed, etc., they are to be found therein. When the 'rabi' or spring crops 

 are reaped, towards the end of February, the Quail congregate in great numbers in 

 the dry beds of the rivers, finding ample cover in the tamarisk bushes which grow 

 luxuriantly there. 



" The bulk of the birds appear to arrive early in November, and a few stay till late 

 in April, but none, it would seem, remain to breed. In the Satara district Grey Quail 

 are less common, but every three or four years a good season occurs in the Krishna 

 valley. 



" In Ratnagiri Grey Quail are very scarce, and are seldom found except in one or two 

 localities, such as Chiplun and Khed, where there is a considerably area of alluvial 

 soil sown with winter crops of Tuar (Cajanus indicus) and Paota (Dolichos sj>). 

 Large bags, however, are out of the question." 



