upper part of . tile back and the wing-coverts reddish brown ;
lower part of tbe back, rump, and upper-tail-coverts, a mottled
greyish brown, with a few spots of dark brown; wing-
primaries greyish brown; the .scapulars and tertialsrvery dark
brown, with buff-coloured margins;; tail-feathers bluish grey-;
chin and throat white, with a g®Sget . of black below ; breast
and belly huffy white* with transverse- bars pfb black sides,'
flanks, and under tail-coverts* varied- with reddish thrown and
buffy white 4 legs and claws reddish-brown.
Whole length rather, more .than nine inches. From the
carpal joint to the end of the ming* four inches,-and a fidlft:
the wing in form rounded ; ..the first and jjthe - eighth feathers
of the same length ; the second equal Jto-4he'.:sixfh ; /feuynot
so long as the third, fourth, or fifth, which are nearly jaqual
in length to each other, but the fourth rather the -longest! in
the.wingi
The female . is rather smaller than the male fitihev band
before and behind the eyjeils ;4ess conspicuous* "thf^blight-
coloured edges ofLthe scapulars and flUials rare more white/
than buff-coloiired the chin and throat are pale, buffi eolenn.;
the breast is nearly whiter -with much- l%krs of thc^edSfeh
brown colour' on the upper part, the Rides'* or the flanks.
Very young birds, Mr. Audfifeon says, have^l^Si beak
brownish yellow ; iades -light hazel; the„,general cblomrof the
upper..parts light yellowish brown,-patched
with grey ; sides of the head dusky,-
RASORES. TETRAONIDJE,
T H E COMMON QUAIL.
Perdix eoturnix, , The Quail, P enn. Brit, Zool. vol. i. p. 366. ,
Tetrao . ,, „ • ,, Mont. 'Ornith. Diet.
?‘C 4: >y uBjewick, Brit. Birds,-vol. i. p. 361.
vulgaris, Common„ FLEMvBrit. An. p. 45.
Perdix - ,, . ,, ' Selby,. Brit, Ornith. vol. i. p. 437.
, , , , , , , , J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 174.
<Goturnix dq,Qtylisonans, ,, ,, G ould, Birds of.Europe, pt. xiii.
Perdix eoturnix, . La caille, S T b ih . Man. d’Ornith, vok ij, p, 491.
, Cotornix. „Generic Characters.—Beak strong, shorter than the bead, upper
imandible curved. Nostrils basal, lateral,.half closed by an arched membrane.
Feet with four tges, tKosb ^.anterior connected by a membrane as far as the first
articulation. Tail short# rounded^" recumbent, almost hid fiy the tail-coverts.
O u r British Quail belongs tt> that section of the genus
Coturnix .designated by Colonel Sykes* as having the upper
* Transactions of the Zoological Society, vol. ii. page 1.