THE COMMON OR GREY QUAIL. 147 



April 1872. I found several nests myself, and many more 

 were brought in to me. The nests were invariably placed in 

 standing corn, usually in a part of the field where the corn was 

 less dense and high, and near some small beV bush, several of 

 which might generally be found in each field. The nest was 

 loosely made of a few dried corn leaves, and on these from seven 

 to ten eggs would be found. 



" I know little of the breeding habits of these Quail, and 

 possibly their breeding in such numbers at Nowshera may have 

 been exceptional. By the middle of May all the corn would 

 be cut, and certainly the Common Quail is not found at Now- 

 shera after the month of May. 1872 was in those parts an 

 exceptionally backward year ; the 24th of May was a cold, wet 

 day, and the surrounding hills were white for some hours from 

 the hail that fell on that date ; hence we may perhaps presume 

 that many Quail, which bred in the Peshawar valley that year 

 would have gone further north had the season been more 

 favourable for their migration." 



Writing from Lahore, Captain C. H. T. Marshall remarked : 

 " I found a Quail's nest containing fresh eggs on April 14th. 

 The nest was in the corner of a tobacco field. I saw the parent 

 bird. The nest was only a hollow scraped in the ground at the 

 root of a tobacco plant, with a few bits of dry grass in it. The 

 eggs were eight in number, and were a dirty yellowish white 

 covered with small and large dark umber brown blotches. I 

 believe this is the first instance of a nest of this bird being 

 noted in the Punjab. I fully believe that, could I have got a 

 good searcher, I should have found several others. This nest 

 was half a mile from my house." 



Mr. William Blewitt says : " I only found one nest of 

 this species, and that was in the Danah Beerh, near Hansi, 

 on the 25th March. Under a wild plum or Zizyphus bush 

 a slight hollow had been scooped, and this had been lightly 

 lined with leaves and straw. It contained three fresh 

 eggs." 



Captain G. F. L. Marshall remarks : " On the 25th March 

 I obtained a nest of the Common Quail (Coturnix communis) 

 at Allahabad. It contained six eggs nearly ready for hatching, 

 and was situated, as described by Dr. Jerdon, on a little turf of 

 grass in a field in the Ganges Kadar surrounded by a good 

 deal of jungle." 



The eggs are broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one 

 end. The ground colour is a clear yellowish or reddish buff,, 

 and they are thickly speckled and freckled, or more thinly 

 spotted or blotched, with deep reddish brown or at times bluish 

 black. The markings vary much in character and in intensity ; 

 some eggs are finely freckled and speckled all over ; others have 

 only a few large bold blotches accompanied by a few outlying 

 spots and specks. They are only moderately glossy. 



