THE COMMON OR GREY QUAIL. 1 37 



case; and I am confirmed in this view by the fact that, in the 

 only three cases within my knowledge in which the parent 

 birds belonging to nests found in this country were carefully 

 examined, one (in one case both) was found to bear shot-marks. 



They migrate, I think, invariably by night, and probably in 

 immense masses. On one moonlight night, about the third week 

 in April, standing on the top of Benog* a few miles from 

 Mussooree, a dense cloud, many hundred yards in length and 

 fifty yards I suppose in breadth, of small birds swept over me 

 with the sound of a rushing wind. They were not, I believe, 

 twenty yards above the level of my head, and their unmistake- 

 able call was uttered by several of those nearest me as they 

 passed. I have never seen or heard of any one who has seen 

 them migrating by day. Over and over again have I found 

 a place in the early morning, on several occasions my own com- 

 pound (in which I had millets in autumn and wheat and barley 

 in spring), swarming with Quail where none had been on the 

 previous evening ; and,/*??' contra^ a tract of stubble and half- 

 cut wheat, where I had shot till my head ached one day, has 

 (but for a few wounded birds) proved blank when examined 

 next morning. 



Although Quails move in flocks, they never, except immediately 

 after the breeding season, keep in coveys as do the Bush-Quail. 

 There may be thousands in a single field, but each rises, flies, 

 and drops on his own account ; and when Quail are scarce, at 

 any time from November to the end of February, you will as 

 often find a single bird as two, three or more in one place. In 

 March, I think, they begin pairing, for in that month and April, 

 if birds are scarce, you generally find two, four or six in any 

 patch, not one or three or five. 



They feed chiefly morning and evening, and may, if closely 

 looked for, be at times caught sight of for a few moments 

 bustling about, feeding in short stubbles, or thin low grass, or 

 in amongst clumps of the dwarf jujube bushes. They run 

 about stooping, picking here and there, now stopping to scratch, 

 now, as some sound reaches them, standing straight up with up- 

 stretched necks, and again, alarmed, gliding out of sight, almost 

 like rats. 



When they are in season, the millets are, I think, their chief 

 food ; but they eat all kinds of grain, grass-seeds, small fruits, like 

 those of the " Jharberi" and all kinds of small insects, espe- 

 cially beetles, bugs, and ants. 



During the middle of the day, particularly if the sun be hot, 

 they rest somewhere in the shade, and are then so unwilling to 

 rise that you may almost catch them by the hand, while dogs at 

 times actually do pounce on them. But except during the heat 

 of the day, although they are tame birds and allow a near 



* Elevation I suppose 7,500 feet. 



