of the Island qfCerigo and its Dependencies. 67 



arrive about the beginning of winter, and are the first to depart 

 in spring. 



The flocks of quail which appear here in spring and autumn, 

 are considerably reduced by various destructive means of the 

 inhabitants; but the most singular is that of finding them by 

 dogs, something similar to a lurcher, and then catching them 

 with hand-nets. Two, or a party of three, go sporting in this 

 way ; each net has a mouth somewhat oval, stiffened by a rim of 

 wood two or three feet long, attached to which is a net of a pro- 

 portionate bulk ; to this border is fastened at one end a pole, ten to 

 fourteen feet long, and with such a weapon a party of three will 

 secure twenty or thirty couples during the day in the following 

 manner. When the dog makes a point, the party comes up to- 

 wards the spot in different directions, holding their nets by the 

 ends of the poles, and if the quails lie so close, as they do in bushes, 

 as to allow the party to touch each other's nets, then the dog is 

 driven in to put them up. On rising, each man strikes at a bird 

 with his extended oval-mouthed net, twisting it in the air to en- 

 tangle his game, and, when expert, seldom misses. On their 

 first arrival, the quails are often so much fatigued as to be ta- 

 ken by the hand, or nets of the simplest construction. In spring 

 they are thin, and scarcely worth the trouble of procuring, 

 while in autumn they are fat, and much prized as delicacies. 

 Great numbers are preserved, and fattened for the table, but 

 unless great care is taken they die quickly ; several experiments 

 have been made here in autumn by private individuals, of seve- 

 ral hundreds at a time, but they always died off before the cold 

 weather had fairly commenced. 



Quadrupeds. From the preceding description of the islands, 

 we would naturally infer a scarcity of wild mam miferous animals, 

 and their being well adapted, in the milder parts of the year, for 

 pasturage. In former times, that animals of a large size existed 

 in Cerigo in a wild state, we are entitled to infer from the fossil 

 organic remains now existing, and already noticed ; indeed, in 

 the time of the ancient Greeks it would appear, that an island 

 on the coast of Greece, at a short distance from Cerigo, took its 

 name from the number of deer it contained. At present, the wild 

 mammiferous animals existing are Canis aureus, Vespertilio mu- 

 rums, Rhinolophus ferrun>equinum, Mustela foina, Lepus timi- 



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