THE RURAL 
QUAIL. 
QUAGGA. See Horsz. 
QUAGMIRE. See Boe and Morass. 
QUAIL,—scientifically Coturniz. 
gallinaceous birds, of the grouse or partridge 
family. They are very nearly allied to par- 
tridges, but have a smaller body, a slenderer bill, 
and a shorter tail, and have neither spurs nor 
red eyebrow. The common quail, called by the 
old naturalists Tetrao coturnix, occurs from Ice- 
land to Southern Africa, and from Britain to 
China, and is celebrated for its migrations, and 
is everywhere esteemed as excellent food, and is 
probably the bird which the patient and all- 
benign Governor of the Universe gave to the 
murmuring Israelites as food in the wilderness. 
It migrates northward in spring and southward 
in autumn; it alights in clouds on many parts 
| of Continental Europe; it swarms so greatly at 
the time of migration in Southern Russia and in 
some countries around the Mediterranean as to 
be caught by thousands; and though naturally 
scarce and comparatively poor in Britain, it is 
imported alive, in great numbers, from France 
and. Germany, te supply the market of London. 
| The male bird is 7$ inches long and 14 broad; 
his’bill is dusky; his head, neck, and back are a 
mixture of brown ash-coloured and black; the 
crown of his head and the space above each eye 
are streaked with a whitish yellow line; his chin, 
throat, belly, and thighs are dirty yellowish 
white; his scapular feathers and those of his 
back are streaked in their middle with light yel- 
low, and on their sides with rusty-brown and 
black ; his wing-coverts are reddish brown, and 
elegantly barred with black-bounded paler lines ; 
his quills are lightish brown, with small rusty 
bands on the exterior edges; his breast is of a 
pale rust colour, spotted with black, and streaked 
with pale yellow; his tail consists of twelve short 
feathers, barred with black and very pale brown- 
ish red; and his legs are pale brown. The fe- 
male has less vivid colours than the male, and 
has no black spots on the breast or side feathers. 
Ve ‘ 
A genus of: 
CYCLOPEDIA. 
QUARRYING. 
The nest is a mere hollow on the bare ground, or 
at best a scooped seat of a few dry leaves or 
stalks; and it generally occurs among field crops 
of grass or clover or especially wheat. The eggs 
vary, in different countries, from 6 to 20; and 
have a whitish colour, marked with irregular 
rusty spots. The incubation extends through 
about three weeks. The young birds, like those 
of the partridge, run as soon as they leave the 
shell, and occasionally abandon the mother and 
begin to be entirely independent of her so early 
as the eighth day. ‘The quail feeds on seeds, 
grain, green leaves, and insects; and grows much 
fatter than the partridge; and is exceedingly 
indolent; and neither rises soon before the dog 
nor flies far upon the wing. It is easily in- 
veigled into a net by means of a call in imitation 
of its natural cry; and it is sought after by the 
fowler from the period of its arrival in spring till 
the month of August. 
QUAKING BOG. See Bog and Morass. 
QUAKING-GRASS. See Briza. 
QUAMOCLIT. See Ipomaa.. 
QUARRYING. Large blocks of stone are only | 
to be procured in nosy places, and the openings 
or excavations made for obtaining them are 
called quarries, When once a quarry has been 
opened and is found capable of yielding a large 
quantity of stone, the qualities of which have 
been tested by long use and experience, it be- 
comes a very valuable property. From the 
weight of the material produced, a quarry is un- 
worthy of prosecution unless it has the advantage 
of water conveyance, and of a railroad for trans- 
porting the material to the water’s edge; and 
even with every advantage, it requires consider- 
able forethought and skill to work it with con- 
tinued advantage. A quarry is seldom a deep 
excavation like a mine, but consists of working 
a way into the side of a hill, One of the first 
things to attend to, therefore, is not to begin the 
work too low, so as to get the quarry into a hole, 
from whence it may be very troublesome, dan- 
A 
