322 
Nesting of Quails. 
selves ill the .small net and were extricated one by one and 
placed ill a cage. Old and young were then taken to the 
rearing-pen, tiie operation occupying less than iialf an liour. 
On the 11th September the chicks were showing buff 
triangular spots on the scapulars and on the l.Sth tlieir breasts 
were most strikingly marked with longitudinal stripes of bull- 
ish-white. It is singular that the young of some birds and 
manimals (as for instance the Tapirs) pass through a phase of 
colouring which is actually brighter and more variegated than 
that of the adults, but, hi tropical countries where a glowing 
sun casts vivid shadows on the ground, these schemes of colour- 
ing probably render the young less, and not more, conspicuous. 
I was away from liome from the 20th Sei)tcniber till the oth 
October. 
On the (itli 1 removed the adults and turned tlic young, 
which were almost as wild as the adults, uuo the covered house. 
This was a mistake, for I lost half a dozen in rapid succession 
through dashing themselves against the glass. I sent one to 
our Editor, aged eight weeks, which was killed in this way. 
At this age the crest is well developed, the sides of the 
face are rufous, the breast streaked with dark l)rowii, the 
back having many dark brown feathers with bold centre stripes 
of bull, the tail mottled and barred with black; but what chiefly 
interested iiic was a couple of most singidar patches one, 
in the centre of breast, rufous, and another at the side, just 
covering the butt of the left wing, light chestnut with wiiite 
ocellatioiis (as hi the adults). I wanted to obtain our Editor's 
opinion as to whether this was an instance of the actual change 
of colour in individual feathers, the possibility of which has 
been often denied. 
I have only three young Crested (Quails left now and these 
I have incai'cerated again in the rearing pen where they are 
doing well. They have rather pretty piping notes ((juite 
different from those of the adults) which form a little scale 
with distinct intervals of " thirds." 
I fear that the number of young fully reared of the above 
two species will appear insignificant when compared with 
Mr. Seth Smith's record, but I am almost sure that, if any of 
our members will try the experiment of rearing young Quails 
in February and October they will agree with me that it is 
