country, but rather that It resorts to the upland tracts for the season. It is known to English sportsmen 
hy the name of Trail or Terrall, runs with wonderful agility, and none but the most staunch and excellent 
dogs are able to flush it. The Spaniards often bring it to market, but are so ignorant of its true history 
that they suppose it to he young of the Common Quail, from its being a much smaller bird.” 
Captain Loche informs us that it inhabits the three provinces of Algeria, and Mr. Tristram says that, 
“ although not rare in the wooded districts of the northern part of that country, its nest had, until last year, 
eluded the researches of all the French collectors. Various eggs had from time to time come into the 
hands of the Paris dealers, the produce of birds in captivity ; but the two eggs figured hy Mr. Hewitson 
in ‘ The Ibis ’ for 1859, pi. ii. are, as far as I can ascertain, the very first from a bird in a state of nature. 
They were taken by Captain Loche, of the French army, in Kohah Forest, on the 11th of July, 1857. 
The nest contained seven eggs, nearly fresh. It was placed on the ground in the midst of a dense thicket 
of underwood, most ingeniously concealed, and where no dog could penetrate to put up the bird. It was 
in such situations that I had frequently before found the bird, which never occurs in the plains or in the 
desert. When disturbed it is scarcely possible to make it take wing; when beaten out of a hush it half 
runs, half flies to the nearest cover, somewhat after the manner and with much of the appearance of 
Baillon’s Crake. I do not believe that it migrates in the Atlas, as specimens are occasionally found at all 
times of the year ; nor does it appear ever to congregate, either in flocks or bevies, after the manner of 
the Quail, to which, indeed, in all its habits it affords a striking contrast. The female is very much larger 
and generally more brilliant in colouring than the male, and is at least one third heavier than her mate. 
I was out with Captain Loche when he discovered the nest, of which he kindly allotted me three eggs.” 
“ The eggs,” remarks Mr. Hewitson, “ hear but little resemblance to those of other gallinaceous birds. 
The shell is delicate and thin, and touched with a neutral purple tint, which gives them some likeness to 
those of the Pratincole.” The eggs figured in ‘The Ibis’ for 1859, in illustration of Mr. Hewitson’s 
“Recent Discoveries in European Oology,” differ somewhat in size and form, one being rounder than the 
other, and measuring one inch and a sixteenth in length, while the more oval one measures one inch and 
an eighth ; both are three-quarters of an inch in breadth and very similar in appearance, their ground-colour 
being a creamy white tinged with purple, and numerously spotted with various shades of purple and 
brownish black. 
In a subsequent communication to ‘The Ibis,’ 1860, p. 72, Mr. Tristram says, “I have some doubt 
whether this bird, so peculiarly a denizen of the thick scrub of the Atlas, can be reckoned in the Saharan 
catalogue ; but French officers have assured me that they occasionally find it in the hills between Djelfa 
and El Aghouat. I have not met with it there myself ; hut so shy and solitary a bird might easily escape 
observation.” 
With respect to Mr. Tristram’s statement that there were seven eggs in the nest found hyhim and Captain 
Loche, it is not for me to contradict it ; but if, when in Australia, I met with more nests of any one group of 
birds than another it was those of Hemipodes, and they invariably contained four only, and as inv^ariably 
were placed in the open, undulated, scrubby, and grassy flats, and never among the thick brushwood nor in 
the woods ; and in a note kindly communicated to me by Lord Lilford he says, “ it may interest you to 
know that a nest of Turmx africamis, containing four eggs (one of which is in my possession), was taken 
near Gibraltar this summer (1869), being, as I believe, the first instance of the nest being found in 
Europe.” 
Besides the countries above mentioned, the Andalusian Turnix is found in the southern portions of 
Europe, from Spain to Italy, hut more particularly in various parts of the first-mentioned country, from 
Gibraltar to Arragon ; and the Rev. A. C. Smith informs us that “ this pretty species is by no means rare 
in Portugal ; indeed Professor Du Bocage told me that he had often eaten it like any other game, which 
he naturally considered a decisive proof of its abundance. I was assured hy sportsmen that it is found in 
wooded districts and not in the sandy plains assigned as its habitat by Temniinck, Yarrell, and others.” 
Temminck states that MM. Cantraine and Bihron informed him that this species is common in Sicily in 
the environs of Catania, where it is known by the name of Tringulm, that it is found in the same places as 
the Francolin, and he believes it does not emigrate, because it is found there in November and December. 
The figures represents a male and female, from Tunis or Gibraltar, of the natural size. 
