240 The Scottish Naturalist. 



stragglers, but finding themselves, as it were, completely out 

 of their reckoning, and yet in a place suited to their habits, 

 would at once commence breeding, retiring to the higher moun- 

 tains for that purpose, and coming down to the plains in winter, 

 and thus performing a kind of local migration. This is just 

 what I have noticed our common Blackbird do in the south of 

 Greece : not one is to be seen in the plains in summer, where 

 they were abundant all winter, leading the novice to suppose 

 that all had migrated northwards. Go up yonder mountain a 

 few thousand feet, and there you will meet our old friend, nesting 

 and regaling you with his song, as if in some woodland at home. 

 And so with these Azoreans : finding everything suited to their 

 wants, the desire of migration becomes less and less in each suc- 

 ceeding generation, until it is entirely lost. 



Though this local migration may not appear to apply so readily 

 to the Quail, yet it is a bird that so easily conforms itself to circum- 

 stances, that it would soon become reconciled to sedentary habits ; 

 and Mr Godman tells us they abound in the islands, breeding 

 three times in the year. This would seem to bear out the theory 

 that I have advocated of the Quail breeding in Africa during its 

 winter sojourn in that country. The Quail, though migratory to 

 a very large extent, not only occasionally winters both in the 

 south of England and Ireland, but is also to be found more or 

 less resident in all the milder parts of Europe, — not because the 

 sea is too broad for it to cross, but much more probably because 

 late broods stay behind, where they find sufficient food and 

 suitable climate; and so remaining, their descendants become 

 sedentary. Were this not the case, why should a few remain all 

 the year in Malta, and many parts of Greece, from whence they 

 could easily migrate ? I have shot them in the winter months 

 in Macedonia, at the head of the Archipelago, where they were 

 pretty plentiful. Had these birds wished to migrate, they might 

 easily have done so, almost without ever going out of sight of 

 land. These remarks may equally apply to other summer 

 migrants which have occasionally been noticed to winter in 

 Europe ; these, however, are few : the Blackcap, the Wryneck, 

 and some others. The Blackcap is a great lingerer, — some even 

 remain all the year in England ; and Mr Malloch, bird-stuffer, 

 Pertli, informs me that one was shot near Edinburgh, in full plum- 

 age, the year before last, late in December. Some other birds, 

 such as the Reed Wren {Calamoherpe arundinacea):mA Fan-tailed 

 Warbler {Salican'a dsticola, Gould), winter regularly in Sicily and 



