74 
TETEAONIDiE. 
in the comity of Wexford, remarks, under date of April 11 
“ A quail which has through the winter frequented a meadow in 
my daily walk, has, I observe to-day, procured for itself a mate, 
but whether from the spring migration or from some neighbouring 
locality, as is more probable, must remain a mystery, except to 
the respective parties/^ But the nearest approximation to proof 
is in the following cases. The observant gamekeeper at Glengariff 
(Cork) states, that in almost every instance in which he has found 
the young brood, the two old birds were with them. My friend, 
William Ogilby, Esq., furnishes this interesting note : — In 
walking through a grass field on my farm at Liscleen (Tyrone), 
about the 15th or 16th of May (1849), I suddenly flushed a quail, 
which rose so close to my feet that I was very nearly trampling on 
it. On looking down, I readily distinguished the lair in which it 
had been sitting, with a small heap of droppings on one side, 
evidently indicative that the place had been occupied for some 
days. But my curiosity was excited at perceiving close by (within 
about a foot) a dead quail, wdiich I presume must have been its 
mate, and which, from its condition, I should judge to have lain 
there for four or five days ; during all which time it was apparent 
that the widowed survivor had never deserted the body. This 
instance of fidelity in a class of birds, of the mental characters of 
which we know so little, strongly attracted my attention, and 
I think may possibly be interesting to you in more respects than 
one. You will draw your own conclusion as to the value of the 
anecdote in its bearing on the question of the monogamous 
or polygamous habits of the quail. The crop of the dead bird 
was distended with seeds of grass mixed with a large number of 
scarahcei and other insects.’’^ 
When in Dublin, in May 1849, I saw a pair of quails at Mr. 
CanipbelFs, Duke-lane, that, in the preceding year, had produced 
and reared to maturity five young. The cage in which they were 
confined was about three feet in length, and half as much 
in height and depth. I saw both the old and the young* 
birds, which were placed in separate cages, on account of 
their pugnacious propensities. Their call-notes, loudly uttered 
