THE BIRDS OF SINGAPORE ISLAN'D 
They thus offer a fair shot to those whose tastes nin in the 
direction of such small game, but their habit of dropping so 
suddenly to earth is most disconcerting: to the inexperienct^d 
sportsman who can never be quite sure that he has dropped 
his bird unless he sees the feathers fly! Once the quails have 
dropped they run away from the spot very rapidly and it is 
extremely difficult to put the same birds up again. Maybe 
but one bird will be met wtth in this manner, perhaps a pair 
will gt^t up at the same time and towards the end of the year 
especially it is possible that a covey, consisting of five, six or 
seven birds (a family party) may be seen. The only bird with 
which the present species may be confused is the bustard-quail ; 
but although this is common in Singapore, more so in 
our opinion than the blue-breasted quail, it is not met with in 
coveys but is usually flushed singly. It has, however, very 
similar habits in that it sits very^ close and jumps up almost 
at one's feet, flying but a short distance and then dropping 
again so perhaps further notes on the identitication of the two 
species may be useful. 
The cock-quaii is of course quite unmistakeable. However 
suddenly he gets up there is a flash of bright colour and one 
gets at least the impression of his blue and rufous underparts 
as he speeds away. The hen in her sober dress of greys and 
browns is more difficult to distinguish from the bustard-quail 
but both sexes of the latter bird show a reddish or brownisli 
"stem" as they fly away from one (and that is the view one 
always gets! J a feature not exhibited by the hen-quaiL When 
one gels to know the two birds better the shghtly spiallcr size 
of the blue-breasted quail will always distinguish it in thv held 
but this fact is not much help to the beghmer. 
Other Habits: — Although this species strays into large 
gardens and grassy patches on the outskirts of the town there 
seems hut little doubt that it is the next species which is the 
most frequently seen "quail" in Singapore. 
The blue-breasted quail is a rather silent bird. When 
flushed, particularly when suddenly disturbed, they utter a 
peculiar note and the sexes will call to each other with a twice 
repeatetl double note when on the e^round. The Malay name is 
supposed, not without reason, to represent this note^ — "pik-oo, 
pik-oo". 
t34] 
