QUAIL. 
COTURNIX rULGARIS. 
With the raception of a etraggler or two obserr-ccl iu Norfolk. I have only met with the Qnall iu the counties 
o Cam iidge and Sussex: according to my own experience, the numbers of this curious bird have greatly 
decreased of late years. ° 
1 Newmarket and Cambridge (especially about Bottisham. Qui, 
and Swaffham) alforded, some five and twenty years ago, fair sport at the commencement of the season What 
bags were made on the strictly preserved lands I had no means of ascertaining; seven brace, killed by a 
coup e of guns m half a day’s shooting on the poor lauds or free fens, was the largest number that came to 
my •nowledge. In November 18C0, and again iu 1801, I visited repeatedly all the likely ground in this 
district, hut never, on any occasion, succeeded in obtaining above a brace or two, even after a long day’s tramp 
The birds were commonly found on oat-stubbles; mustard, however, appeared the cover for which tliev 
exlnbitcd an especial preference. Occasionally they were met with in the rough grass and coarse herbage 
round the outskirts of the fens, though seldom penetrating far on to the moist portions of the land. 
uai , accoidmg to my own experience, lie for the most part exceedingly close, rarely sprinein*^ till 
approached within the distance of three or four yards. When once on wing they make way wycon:idereble 
speed, offering, however, a remarkably easy shot, their line of flight being usually straight and. as a rule, at 
no greater elevation than two or three feet from the ground. It is seldom this species flies far. tl.ou-h on 
a i„ i mg again, oven if carefully marked, they generally prove exceedingly difficult to find. A cunniii" old 
emon-and-w iite setter, my conrtaut companion on the fens, was thoroughly up to the work, and rarely in the 
^ P o follow tit once a single Quail marked down into the scanty 
e open fen, a good half-hour was usually allowed to pass before appi-oaching the spot. Thoufi-h 
water-dykes frequently surrounded the piece of ground and prevented all chance of- running, it was by L 
means certain that the setter would immediately hit off tlie scent. 
Quails bred in considerable numbers in this locality during the seasons of 1801 and 1802, a nest or two 
ng discovered without difficulty whenever sought for. The morning and evening call of the male havim. 
"“r'Ti, they were usually well informed as to the spot 
hnllmv 1 ® I CJ'amincd were placed in very slight scivatchings or natural 
s in lay or rough grass, generally at no great distance from some marsh-wall or other commandino 
eva ion, on which in the twilight the male might be seen disporting himself. 
In Norfolk I never met with this species in spring or summer; a brace that rose within three or four paces 
p-rni barrels of my gun had been discharged at a wisp of Snipe were the only stragglers that 
mirlrll """f n TY apparently very suitable locality. These birds were found, about the 
of the^cLst ^ ° ^ stunted rushes on a grass-marsh in tlie broad-district Avithin a few miles 
