QUAIL. Mr. Gould recognises the common quail of India as distinct from the European quail. The quails of British India are arranged by Jerdon under the genus Perdicula, the dwarf partridges or bush quails, and ,the sub-families Perdicinm, and the Coturnicinm or true quails ; also the sub-family Turnicinm, or bustard quail, of the family Tinarnidte.
Perdicinm Bush quails.
Perdicula Cambayensis, Zalham, jungle bush quail, all India.
P. Asiatica, Latham, rock bush quail, Delthan:S. of Nerbadda.
P. erythrorhyncha, Sykes, painted bush quail, ghats of S. India.
Coturnicinm, Quails.
Coturnix communis, Bonaterre, large grey quail, or European quail, Europe, India.
C. Coromandelica, Gmel., rain quail, black-breasted quail, all India, Burma.
C. Novm-Zealandim, O. and G., New Zealand. 0. pectoralis, Gould.
C. Ecalteni, S. Muller.
C. histrionica, Hartl.
Excalfactoria Chinensis, Linn., blue - breasted quail, British India. to Philippines.
E. Novm-Guinem, Gmel., New Guinea.
E. Adamsoni, Verreaux, Celebes.
E. minima, Gould, Celebes.
Fam. Tinarnidas • Sub-Fami. Turnicinae.
Turnix taigoor, Sykes, 'black-breasted bustard quail, Ceylon, British India.
T. ocellatus, Seopoli, hill bustard quail, Himalaya to Malayana.
T. Dussumierii, Temm., larger button quail, all India. T. Sykesii, A. Smith, button quail, all India.
T. maeulosus, Temm., Burma.
Coturnix communis, the common quail of Europe, Aeia, Africa, is chiefly migratory, and is abundant in India, though M. Gould considers the race of British India to be distinct. The rain quail, Coturnix Coromandelica, is plentiful during the MODS0011. TIIC bush quail occurs in low jungle, now and then among the prickly shrubs by the margins of the fields.
The jungle bush quail, P. Cambayensis, is seen in coveys of from six to a dozen or more, and generally all rise at once with a loud whirring noise, uttering cries of alarm, and, after a short flight, drop down again into the jungle. The
rock bush quail, P. Asiatica, Hindi the Lowa, rises in a bevy of a dozen or twenty together with a startling suddenness and bustle, dispersing among the neighbouring bushes. This and P. Cambayensis, the Girza, are much trained to fighting by Muhammadans. The European quail, or barra bater, is largely netted ; it is mostly migratory, comma. across the Himalaya at the ripening of the au6tumn and spring crops.
The hen-birds of the gulu, or gundu, or salai gundru, Turnix taigoor, are very pugnacious, and this propensity is utilized for their capture ; a decoy bird in a cage, witb a concealed spriug compartment, is placed in a covert, and its loud purrmg call attracts the neighbouring females, who strike at the cage, and break the string of the trap.
The button quail, Turnix Sykesii, is the most diminutive game bird of India. It is flushed with great difficulty, flies but a few yards, and then sometimes allowing itself to be caught by hand. Its Hindi name is the Dabki or squatter.
The Nepalese put a pair of imitation horns on their heads, and walk slowly about the stubble fields, twirling grass in their hands to imitate the champing of cattle, and. thus drive any quail they may see under a small net which they drop. Quails are hunted in N. China. The hawk is loosed to the quail, which it seizes in its talons ; the falconer then rushes up and takes all in a net. In China, quail -fighting is an amusement.—Adanis; ferdon ; Blyth. See Birds.