108 
COMMON QUAIL. 
they are also very abundant, performing regular 
migrations from the interior to the coast. It is 
thus seen that the geographical range of this bird 
is of great extent, reaching northward to Russia 
and Scandinavia,* found in the intermediate coun- 
tries of temperate heat, and abounding in continental 
India and Africa. "We possess specimens which 
do not materially differ from each other, from 
Madeira, alpine India, the plains of India, China, 
Cape of Good Hope, and southern Europe. A 
specimen shot at Jardine Hall, in autumn, has the 
crown nearly black, the feathers edged with pale 
chestnut, streaks of oclire-yellow run over each eye, 
and the centre space between the eyes and bill, and 
auriculars, are chestnut. Colour of the upper parts 
black, having the shafts and a lanceolate mark in the 
centre of each, ochreous-yellow, palest at the tip, 
where the wings join the body ; the central mark- 
ings are wanting, and the black is relieved by grey 
tips and wavy bars of sienna-yellow ; throat, pale 
ochreous-yellow, bounded by a deep blackish-brown 
gorget, and on the sides cut into by a dark stripe of 
the same colour, running from the gape, and curving 
inwards near the middle of the pale space ; breast, 
yellowish wood-brown, shading into pale ochreous 
on the lower parts ; on the breast, the feathers are 
marked with two round or oval spots, on the exterior 
of each web; on the flanks these patches border 
each feather irregularly, bounding a pale open space 
along the shafts, which is nearly pure white. The 
* Yarrell. 
