The Scottish Naturalist. 141 



Against this, however, the late Mr. Yarrel has recorded, "That 

 the males are said to arrive before the females, and that advan- 

 tage is taken of this circumstance by bird-catchers in France,' 

 who every year decoy hundreds of dozens of males only into 

 their nets by imitating the call note of the female. These 

 birds are brought by French dealers in Quails to the London 

 markets in large quantities, and on examination of dozens 

 together in the flat cages in which they are carried, it is rare to 

 find a female among them." It not having come sufficiently 

 under my notice to decide whether these great flights which 

 annually visit Europe are entirely composed of males, females, 

 or young respectively, or whether the bevies composing the 

 later flights consist of both females and young in broods, it is a 

 question which I must leave to those who may have the oppor- 

 tunity of solving, but may it not be that the cause of these birds 

 all being males, is that the call of the female only is used, and 

 consequently supposing there were hundreds of females in the 

 same vicinity, it would only be the male bird that by this method 

 would be captured. 



I invariably noticed that the Quails came in the night, 

 and instead of spreading out along the coast, previous 

 to taking their departure, they were always to be met 

 in lines, or columns, running north and south, that is perpen- 

 dicular to the coast, as if these bevies followed each other and 

 dropped in succession; the lines were from 50 to 100 or 200 

 yards in width, and extended a couple of miles or more from 

 the coast inland, and were not less than a mile or two miles 

 apart. My belief is, that they rested the whole day, and the 

 weather favouring them, departed for Europe the following 

 night, fresh bevies coming in to supply their place. These 

 lines being generally in a diff"erent spot every day led me to the 

 belief that they were fresh birds. Sardinia being immediately 

 opposite, and only about 150 miles from the shores of Carthage, 

 they would easily make the passage in five or six hours, arriving 

 there about midnight. Should the supposition of the Quail 

 breeding twice a year be a correct one, it would account for the 

 countless thousands which annually invade the whole extent of 

 Southern Europe in spring, with a corresponding reflux in 

 autumn, notwithstanding the enormous quantities which are 

 destroyed and captured, and sent to every market in Europe, 

 and yet the following year reappear in undiminished numbers. 



So numerous are the Quail in these migrations that, as Mr. 



