106 
COMMON QUAIL. 
to be generally distributed over tbe old world, though, 
in the south of Europe, it is perhaps more abundant 
than elsewhere. In Britain they may now be term- 
ed only an occasional visitant, the numbers of those 
which arrive to breed having considerably decreased, 
and they are to be met, with certainty, only in some of 
the warmer southern or midland counties of England. 
Thirty years since they were tolerably common and 
regular in their returns ; and, even in the south of 
Scotland, a few broods were occasionally to be found. 
Mr. Macgillivray mentions its occurrence in Moray- 
shire, and of having received a nest and eggs from 
Aberdeenshire.* Its occurrence farther north has 
not been recorded. In these same districts they are 
now very uncertain ; we have known of broods only 
twice, and occasionally have shot a straggler appa- 
rently on its way to the south. In Ireland the 
Quail seems to be more abundant than in any parts 
of Britain ; and according to notes by Mr. Thompson, 
they have of late years remained permanently in the 
north, and in winter have occurred in considerable 
numbers. In the winter of 1836-7, a gentleman 
shot, in one day, ten brace of Quails, in stubble 
fields bordering Belfast Bay.f They are extremely 
difficult to flush after the first time. The nest is 
made by the female, but, like the partridges, the 
eggs are deposited almost on the bare ground; 
these, also, unlike the uniform tint which we find 
prevailing in those of the true partridges, are deeply 
* Brit. Birds, i. p. 237. 
t Annals of Nat. History, iv. p. 2R4. 
