THE EUROPEAN QUAIL. 
33 
THE EUROPEAN QUAIL. 
When wild, the quail is found throughout the 
eastern continent. It is a bird of passage, arriv¬ 
ing in Europe in May, and taking its departure 
at the end of September. It feeds on wheat 
and other corn, rape seed, millet, hemp seed, 
and the like. It also eats green vegetables, as 
well as insects, and particularly ants’ eggs. 
In the house, it is fed on the same food, ad¬ 
ding bread, barley meal, mixed with milk, and 
occasionally salad or cabbage, chopped up 
small, and, that it may want nothing to keep it 
in health, plenty of river sand for it to roll in 
and peck up grains, which assist its digestion; 
but this sand must be damp ; for if dry, it will 
not touch it. It drinks a great deal, and the 
water, contrary to the opinion of some persons, 
should be clear, and never turbid. It moults 
twice in the year, once in autumn, and again in 
spring; it then requires river sand, and greater 
attention than at other times. 
The quail breeds very late, never before July. 
Its nest, if it can be called so, is a hole scratched 
in the earth, in which it lays from ten to four¬ 
teen bluish-white eggs, with large brown spots. 
These are hatched after three weeks’ incubation. 
The young ones, all hairy, follow the mother 
the moment they leave the shell. Their feath¬ 
ers grow quickly; for in the autumn, they are 
able to depart with her to the southern coun¬ 
tries. The males are so ardent, that if one is 
placed in a room with a female, he will pursue 
her immediately with extraordinary eagerness, 
tearing off her feathers if she resists in the 
least; he is less violent if he has been in the 
same room with her during the year. The fe¬ 
male, in this case, lays a great many eggs, but 
rarely sits on them: yet, if young ones are 
brought her from the fields, she eagerly receives 
them under her wings, and becomes a very 
affectionate mother to them. The young must 
be fed on eggs, boiled hard and cut small, but 
the best way ps to take the mother with the 
covey, which may be done with a net. She 
watches over them attentively, and they are 
more easily reared. During the first year, one 
would think that all in the covey were females, 
the males resemble them so much, particularly 
before the brown shows itself on the throat. 
The adult female, however, differs very sen¬ 
sibly from the male; her throat is white, and 
her breast paler, and spotted with black, like 
that of the throat. In the house, if allowed to 
range, its gentleness, neatness, and peculiar mo¬ 
tions are seen to advantage ; but it is often kept 
in a cage of the following make:—- 
A small box, two feet long, one foot deep, and 
four high, of any shape which is preferred ; in 
this, are left two or three openings, one for 
drinking at, the other to give light.; be¬ 
sides this, all is dark; the bottom is a 
drawer, which should be covered with 
sand, and have a seed drawer at one 
end; the top is of green cloth; for as 
the quail often springs up, it would hurt 
itself were it of wood. The case should 
be suspended during the summer, outside 
the window; for the quail sings much 
more when confined in this manner than 
if allowed to range the room, where there 
are many things to call off its attention 
from its song. This bird never sings 
when left to run about in a light room, 
except in the night, but continually when 
in a darkened cage.— Browne's American 
Bird Fancier. 
This, it will be seen, is an entirely different bird 
from the one known in New England as the 
quail, which is the same bird known as the 
partridge, in Kentucky and other states. The 
name is a very vague one, for it is applied in 
different countries, to more than twenty differ¬ 
ent species. The one described in the preced¬ 
ing article, is unknown in America, unless some 
specimens turned -loose by Audubon, near 
Charleston, South Carolina, some'twenty years 
ago, have propagated their species in the forests 
of that state. 
In Europe, this species is the most common of 
wild poultry kept in the house. If not suscepti¬ 
ble of becoming naturalised in this-country, this 
bird is worthy of the sa me object with us. 
The Quail.—Fig. 6. 
