country, but rather that it resorts to the upland tracts for the season. It is known to English sportsmen
by the name of Trail or Terrail, 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 o f its true history'
that they suppose it to be young of the Common Quail, from its being a much smaller bird.”
Captain Loche informs us that it inhabits the three provinces o f Algeria, and Mr. Tristram says that,
“ although not rare in the wooded districts of the northern part o f that country, its nest had, until last year,
eluded the researches o f 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 by Mr. Hewitson
iu ‘ The Ibis ’ for 1859, pi. ii. are, as far as I can ascertain, the very first from a bird in a state o f nature.
They were taken by Captain Loche, of the French army, in Kobah Forest, on the 11th of July, 1857.
The nest contained seven eggs, nearly fresh. It was placed on the ground in the midst o f a dense thicket
of underwood, most ingeniously concealed, and where no dog could penetrate to put up the bird. I t 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 bush 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 a t all
times of the y e a r ; 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, o f which he kindly allotted me three eggs.”
“ The eggs,” remarks Mr. Hewitson, “ bear but little resemblance to those o f 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 o f Mr. Hewitson’s
M 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 e ighth; both are three-quarters o f 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 o f 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 o f the thick scrub o f 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; but so shy and solitary a bird might easily escape
observation.”
With respect to M r. Tristram’s statement that there were seven eggs in the nest found by him and Captain
Loche, it is not for me to contradict i t ; but if, when in Australia, I met with more nests o f any one group of
birds than another it was those of Hemipodes, and they invariably contained four only, and as invariably
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 Turnix africanus, containing fo u r eggs (one o f which is in my possession), was taken
near Gibraltar this summer (1869), being, as I believe, the first instance o f 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, but 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 P o rtu g a l; indeed Professor Du Bocage told me that he had often eaten it like any other game, which
he naturally considered a decisive proof o f its abundance. I was assured by sportsmen th at it is found in
wooded districts and not in the sandy plains assigned as its habitat by Temminck, Yarrell, and others.”
Temminck states that MM. Cantraine and Bibron informed him that this species is common in Sicily in
the environs of Catania, where it is known by the name o f Tringuine, 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 o r Gibraltar, of the natural size.