he upland tracts for the season. It is known to English sportsmen

f : ‘ather that it resorts to t
soul, PUR Tater » wonderful agility, and none but the. most staunch and excellent

by the name of Trail or Terrail, nuns witl
dogs are able to flush it. The Spaniards
that they suppose it to be young of the ee
Loche informs us that it inhabits the thre |
“although not rare in the wooded districts of the northern part of that country, its nest ae until last year,
eluded the researches of all the French collectors. Various eggs had from time to time come “ui the
hands of the Paris dealers, the produce of birds in captivity; but the two eggs figured by Mr. Hewitson
in ‘The Ibis’ for 1859, pl. ii. are, as far as I can ascertain, the very first from a bird in a state of ae
They were taken by Captain Loche, of the French army, in Kobah Forest, on tle 11th of July, 1857.
nearly fresh. It was placed on the ground im the midst of a dense thicket

often bring it to market, but are so ignorant of its true history
Quail, from its being a much smaller bird.”

ape e provinces of Algeria, and Mr. Tristram says that,
Jap alin

The nest contained seven eggs,

of underwood, most ingeniously
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 at all
times of the year ; 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, of which he kindly allotted me three eggs.”
“The eggs,” remarks Mr. Hewitson, “bear but little resemblance to those of 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 of Mr. Hewitson’s

concealed, and where no dog could penetrate to put up the bird. It was

in such

‘Recent discoveries in European Ovlogy,” 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 eighth ; both are three-quarters of 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 of purple and
brownish black.

In a subsequent communication to ‘The Ibis,’ 1860, p. 72, Mr. Tristram says, ‘“‘I have some doubt
whether this tird, so peculiarly a denizen of the thick scrub of 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 Mr. Tristram’s statement that there were seven eggs in the nest found by him and Captain
Loche, it is not for me to contradict it; but if, when in Australia, I met with more nests of 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 Turniv africanus, containing four e ;
near Gibraltar this summer (1869), being,
Kurope.”

ggs (one of which is in my possession), was taken
as I believe, the first instance of the nest being found in
Besides the countries above mentioned, the Andalusian Tur

: = nix is found in the southern portions of
Europe, trom Spain to Italy,

i 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 Portugal ; peced Professor Du Bocage told me that he had often eaten it like any other game, which
he naturally considered a decisive proof of its abundance. | was assured by sportsmen that it is found in
igodlen districts and not in the sandy plains assigned as its habitat by Temminck, Yarrell, and others.”
Temminck states that MM. Cantraine and Bibron infor ee = q
the environs of Catania, where it is
the Francolin,

The figur

med him that this species is common in Sicily in

i : known by the name of Tringuine, that it is found in the same places as
and he believes it does not migrate,

€s represent a male and female, from T

because it is found there in November and December.
unis or Gibraltar, of the natural size.