134 The Natural History of British Game Birds 
answer is to be made in the cock's. By this means they will come up to the fowler, so that 
he may, with great ease, throw the net over and take them. If a cock quail be single, on 
hearing the hen's note he will immediately come, but if he have a hen already with him he 
will not forsake her. Sometimes, though only one quail answers to the call, there will be three 
or four come up, and then it is best to have patience and not run to take up the first, but 
stay till they are all entangled, as they soon will be. The quail is a neat, cleanly bird, and 
will not run much into dirty or wet places. 
"On dewy mornings they will often fly instead of running to the call, and in this case 
it is better to let them go over the net if it so happens that they fly higher than its top, 
and the fowler then changing sides and calling again, the bird will come back and then will 
probably be taken in the net. The calls are to be made of a small leathern purse, about two 
fingers wide and four fingers long, and made in the shape of a pear ; this is to be stuffed 
half full of horsehair, and at the end of it is to be placed a small whistle made of the bone 
of a rabbit's leg, or some such bone — this is to be about two inches long and the end formed 
like a flageolet, with a little soft wax. This is to be the end fastened into the purse, the 
other is to be closed up with the same wax, only that a hole is to be opened with a pin, to 
make it give a distinct and clear sound. To make this sound, it is to be held in the palm 
of the hand, with one of the fingers placed over the top of the wax ; then the purse is to be 
pressed, and the finger is to shake over the middle of it to modulate the sound it gives into 
a sort of shake. This is the most useful call, for it imitates the note of the hen quail, and 
seldom fails to bring a cock to the net, if there be one near the place. The call that imitates 
the note of the cock, and is used to bring the hen to him, is to be about four inches long, 
and about one inch thick. It is to be made of a piece of wire turned round and coiled, and 
covered with leather. One end must be closed with a piece of flat wood, about the middle 
of which there must be a small thread, or strap of leather, and at the other end the same 
sort of pipe made of bone as is used in the other call. The noise is made by opening and 
closing the spiral, and it gives the same sound that the cock does when he gives the hen a 
signal that he is near her." 
The general habits of the Quail are very similar to the common partridge. They 
seem to frequent the same kind of ground and will live on much the same food. 
Their hours of feeding, dusting, and lying hidden are also the same, and they are 
most active early and late in the day. 
Although the male is one of the most pugnacious of the gallinaceous birds, it 
would be difficult to find a more patient mother than the female. She is a very close 
sitter, and if carefully approached, almost any hen Quail will permit herself to be 
touched or fed by the hand. She is a late breeder, and does not lay till May in 
England and July in Scotland. The nest is a shallow depression placed in some 
rough cover, or out in the clover, wheat, or oat field. The eggs number from seven 
to fifteen, and are of a yellowish white colour, blotched or speckled with umber- 
brown. They measure i.i by .9 inches. Incubation lasts about three weeks, and the 
young are nearly full grown in three weeks more. 
The call of the male resembles the words " click-a-lik " or " Wet-me-lips," which 
has resulted in its local name, whilst the female utters a somewhat gentle note like 
"few-few" or "pew-pew." 
Some difference of opinion prevails as to whether the Quail is polygamous or 
monogamous. All observations in our islands seem to prove that the male has only 
one wife, but it may perhaps be different in countries where females are very 
abundant. 
