Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/673

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
QUAGGA.
589
QUAIL.

brown color, and in having a dorsal stripe, and its head and fore quarters irregularly banded and marked with dark brown stripes, which became fainter until lost on the body. In some cases these transverse stripes reached back to the haunches, but they were always absent from all four legs, which were nearly white. The quagga originally wandered in great herds over the plains of South Africa, and its name was derived from its shrill, barking neigh, the last syllable of which was prolonged into a sort of scream. The flesh and hide were both of great value to the early settlers, and the animal was killed with ruthless waste by the Boers, as food for their slaves, and also because, by their curiosity and alertness, the quaggas interfered with hunting, alarming all other game in the neighborhood as soon as they discovered the hunter's presence. Thus by 1850 it was nearly exterminated. The quagga seemed easily susceptible to domestication and training, but few attempts seem ever to have been made in South Africa to utilize the animal. Consult Bryden, Nature and Sport in South Africa (London, 1897), and early writers on zoölogy and sport in South Africa. See Extinct Animals; Zebra; and Plate of Equidæ.

QUAGLIO, kwä′lyō̇. An Italian-German family of artists, originally from Laino, near Lake Como, and afterwards residents of Austria and Bavaria. The family produced several generations of painters, etchers, lithographers, and architects, all eminent in their respective branches. The earliest on record is Giulio, born at Como, 1601, who painted, in the manner of Tintoretto, many frescoes and altar-pieces in Vienna, Salzburg, and Laibach and was ennobled by Emperor Leopold I.—Giuseppe (1747-1828), born at Laino, was noted for his scene paintings, and became Court architect at Munich (1801). He left four sons, all born in Munich and his pupils.—Angelo (1778-1815), painter and architect, is remembered especially for his masterly drawings for Boisserée's publication on the Cathedral of Cologne. Of his easel pictures, an “Interior of Saint Peter's in Rome,” and a “Gothic Church by Moonlight,” are in the New Pinakothek.—Domenico (1787-1837), architectural and landscape painter, was the most illustrious member of the family. After practicing painting scenery with rare skill in Munich from 1808 to 1819, he studied under Mettenleiter and Karl Hess and traveled extensively in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Italy to study and paint the most remarkable monuments of mediæval architecture. His numerous productions in that field bear witness to his thorough appreciation of the famous Dutch masters in architectural painting of the seventeenth century. Of the fourteen specimens in the New Pinakothek the “Interior of Saint Sebaldus at Nuremberg” (1816), “Villa Malta in Rome” (1830), the “Cathedral at Orvieto” (1831), and the “Views in Old Munich” are the most interesting. The National Gallery in Berlin contains the “Fish Market at Antwerp” (1830) and five others, and the Leipzig Museum the “Minster at Freiburg” (1821). Of other examples may be pointed out the cathedrals of Cologne, Strassburg, Rheims, and Rouen, and the picturesque views of Burg Eltz and the castles of Heidelberg and Hohenschwangau. Intrusted with the reconstruction and entire decoration of the last-named, he died there before his task was completed. He also left some rare etchings and published Sammlung merkwürdiger Gebäude des Mittelalters in Deutschland (1810), Ansichten merkwürdiger Gebäude in München (1811), and Denkmäler der Baukunst des Mittelalters in Bayern (1816).—Lorenz (1793-1869) was a genre painter of merry scenes from popular life, often combined with the grand surroundings of Alpine scenery, such as “Card Players in Tyrolese Inn” (1824, National Gallery, Berlin), “Target Practice in Tyrol” (Cassel Gallery).—{{sc|Simon)) (1795-1878), pupil also of brother Angelo, early excelled as a scene painter, and was appointed Court theatre architect in 1815.—His son and pupil, Angelo the Younger (1829-90), followed in his footsteps, as did also his grandson, Eugen (1857—).

QUAHOG, kwa̤′ha̤g. See Clam.

QUAI D'ORSAY, kā dôrsā̇′. The name of a portion of the left bank of the Seine at Paris, opposite the Place de la Concorde. From the fact that the Chamber of Deputies and other Government buildings front on it, its name is used to denote the French Government as Downing Street denotes the English. The buildings facing the Quai d'Orsay suffered severely during the bombardment of Paris in 1871, when the Palais d'Orsay, built in 1810, was destroyed.

QUAIL (OF. quaille, Fr. caille, from ML. quaquila, from MDutch quakele, quackel, quail, from quacken, Dutch kwaken, to quack; onomatopoetic in origin). Originally and strictly, a small game bird of the Old World of the genus Coturnix, nearly allied to partridges, but having a more slender bill, a shorter tail, longer wings, no spur, and no red space above the eye. Quails never perch on trees, but always alight on the ground and far excel partridges in their power of flight. They are among the smallest of gallinaceous birds. The common quail (Coturnix coturnix, or communis) is found in most parts of the Old World, and in the Mediterranean region, where it is most familiar, is migratory. Species of quail are found in different parts of Asia, although no other is so abundant as the common quail, and none migrates as it does. The rain quail (Coturnix Coromandelica) is numerous in India. The Chinese quail (Coturnix excalphatoria), only about four inches long, is abundant in China, and is there kept for fighting, the males, being very pugnacious. It is also said to be used for another singular purpose—the warming of the hands of its owner.

In America the word quail is used for all those small birds which have no feathers on the tarsus. In the United States only one species occurs east of the Mississippi, the well-known bob-white (‘partridge’ of the Southern States, ‘quail’ of the North), Colinus Virginianus, which occurs as far north as southern Maine and Minnesota. It is about 10 inches long. The upper parts are reddish-brown variegated with black, buff, and gray; the forehead and band on breast, black; the cheeks, throat, breast, and belly white, the latter barred with black; the sides chestnut, marked with black and white. The female has the forehead, cheeks, and throat buff. Bob-white is one of our most popular game birds and is in great demand for the table. It feeds on seeds, berries, and other vegetable matter. The nest is on the ground, and the eggs, 10 to 18 in number, are pure white. Its loud clear notes,