@ 0 $-<« 
THE EUROPEAN QUAIL. 
106 
persons, should be clear, and never turbid. It moults twice in 
the year, once in autumn, and again in spring; it then requires 
rive" sand, and greater attention than at other times. 
BREEDING-. 
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 fourteen 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 feathers grow quickly, for in the autumn they 
are able to depart with her to the southern countries. 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 resist in the least; he 
is less violent if he has been in the same room with her during 
the year. The female, in this case, lay a great many eggs 
but rarely sits on them ; yet if young ones are brought her 
from the field, 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 is to take the mother with the convoy, 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 the convoy were females, the males resemble them so 
much, particularly before the brown shows itself on the throat. 
The adult female, however, differs very sensibly from the 
male; her throat is white, and her breast paler, and spotted 
with black, like that of the throat. 
MANAGEMENT. 
In the house, if allowed to range, its gentleness, neatness, and 
peculiar motions are seen to advantage; but it is often kept in 
a cage of the following make:—- 
— 
