146 THE COMMON OR GREY QUAIL.
As ALREADY noticed, a very few of the migratory millions of
Quails that visit India remain behind their companions and
breed with us.
Where Quail are very numerous during the breeding season,
there they are generally reputed to be polygamous ; but in India,
where, except occasionally in the extreme north-west, they breed
in small numbers, they are certainly, I think, monogamous.
Moreover, I must say that, towards the end of their stay with
us, I have always found the migrating birds, when not in too
great numbers to prevent this being detected, also invariably in
pairs.
I have records of the occurrence of nests in the Peshdwar, Lahore,
Sialkot and Hansi districts of the Punjab, in the Dehra
Dun, Saharanpur, Shihjahanpur, Fatehgarh and Allahabad
districts of the North-Western Provinces, in Purncah of Bengal,
Jhansi and Hoshangabad of the Central Provinces, and Satdra
of Bombay. In the extreme North-West they breed in some
numbers, elsewhere nests are rare, growing more and more so as
you travel south and east.
The nest appears to be here always placed upon the ground,
amongst grass, and especially grass growing amongst low thorny
bushes, such as the dwarf jujube. Out of India, in more temperate
climes, they very commonly lay in wheat fields ; and I
have found the nests in Norfolk in clover fields also ; but in India,
except in the extreme North-West, all our crops are cut before
they begin laying.
There is, as a rule, very little nest, merely a slight saucershaped
depression in the soil scratched by the birds, occasionally
quite bare, generally thinly, at times pretty thickly, lined with
fine stems and blades of grass.
Ten eggs arc the largest number that I know to have been
found in India, and from several nests six and seven hard-set
eggs have been taken. In Europe they arc said to lay up to
fourteen eggs.
They lay from about the middle of March to the end of
April, according to season and situation.
I have only myself found a single nest of the Common Quail
in India, and that was in April (29th) in the north of the Purncah
district. The nest was a shallow saucer-like depression
scratched by the bird and lined with a few blades of dry grass.
It was placed in a tuft of grass and dwarf Zizyphus on a ridge
separating two millet fields. The nest contained nine eggs absolutely
in the act of hatching off. We caught the female on the
nest, examined the eggs, found the points of the bills protruding
in two, so put them carefully back, and replaced the mother
gently on the nest, where she sat winking at us in a most
unbecoming manner, but never attempting to leave the nest.
Captain Cock some years ago wrote to me that " the
Common Quail bred most abundantly about Nowshera in
April 1872. I found several nests myself, and many more
were brought in to me. The nests were invariably placed in
standing corn, usually in a part of the field where the corn was
less dense and high, and near some small ber bush, several of
which might generally be found in each field. The nest was
loosely made of a few dried corn leaves, and on these from seven
to ten eggs would be found.
" I know little of the breeding habits of these Quail, and
possibly their breeding in such numbers at Nowshera may have
been exceptional. By the middle of May all the corn would
be cut, and certainly the Common Quail is not found at Nowshera
after the month of May. 1872 was in those parts an
exceptionally backward year ; the 24th of May was a cold, wet
day, and the surrounding hills were white for some hours from
the hail that fell on that date ; hence we may perhaps presume
that many Quail, which bred in the Peshawar valley that year
would have gone further north had the season been more
favourable for their migration."
Writing from Lahore, Captain C. H. T. Marshall remarked :
" I found a Quail's nest containing fresh eggs on April 14th.
The nest was in the corner of a tobacco field. I saw the parent
bird. The nest was only a hollow scraped in the ground at the
root of a tobacco plant, with a few bits of dry grass in it. The
eggs were eight in number, and were a dirty yellowish white
covered with small and large dark umber brown blotches. I
believe this is the first instance of a nest of this bird being
noted in the Punjab. I fully believe that, could I have got a
good searcher, I should have found several others. This nest
was half a mile from my house."
Mr. William Blewitt says: " I only found one nest of
this species, and that was in the Danah Beerh, near Hansi,
on the 25th March. Under a wild plum or Zizyphus bush
a slight hollow had been scooped, and this had been lightly
lined with leaves and straw. It contained three fresh
eggs."
Captain G. F. L. Marshall remarks : " On the 25th March
I obtained a nest of the Common Quail (Coturnix communis)
at Allahabad. It contained six eggs nearly ready for hatching,
and was situated, as described by Dr. Jerdon, on a little turf of
grass in a field in the Ganges Kadar surrounded by a good
deal of jungle."
The eggs are broad ovals, a good deal pointed towards one
end. The ground colour is a clear yellowish or reddish buff,
and they are thickly speckled and freckled, or more thinly
spotted or blotched, with deep reddish brown or at times bluish
black. The markings vary much in character and in intensity ;
some eggs are finely freckled and speckled all over ; others have
only a few large bold blotches accompanied by a few outlying
spots and specks. They are only moderately glossy.