The Quaii, and M.S. 257 



THE QUAIL (GOTURNIX COMMUNIS) 



AS a subject of natural history this bird may be said 

 to rank pre-eminent, as it has been conspicu- 

 ously before the naturalist from the earliest 

 times. In the early days of the Egyptian dynasty to 

 the withdrawal of the Israelites from bondage, the quail 

 figured largely as an item of diet, and in one instance we 

 read that " they came up and covered the land." 



' ' This species," says a French naturalist, ' ' is probably 

 the most productive of all winged creatures ; and it could 

 not well be otherwise, or it would be unable to withstand 

 the war of extermination declared against it by human 

 beings and birds of prey. One may get an idea of the 

 prodigious number of victims which the passage or migra- 

 tion costs the species by the two well-known routes. 



' ' There is a small islet, about the size of Holy Island, in 

 the Bay of Naples called the Bishop of Capri, which used 

 to clear a net revenue of 25,000 francs a year by its quails. 

 This sum represents 160,000 birds at the most modest 

 computation. 



1 ' In certain islands of the European Archipelago and 

 parts of the coast of the Peloponnesian Islands, the inhabi- 

 tants, men, and women, have no other occupation during 

 two months of the year than that of collecting the quails 

 which are showered on them from Heaven, picking and 

 cleaning them, salting them, and packing them away in 

 casks for transportation to the principal markets of the 

 Levant. That is to say, the migration of quails is to this 

 part of Greece what the migration of herrings is to 

 Holland and Scotland. 



' ' The quail-catchers arrive at the shore a fortnight in 

 advance, and every man numbers his ground to avoid 

 disputes. The bird arrives in France from Africa early 

 in May, and takes its departure towards the end of 

 August." 



Another French author says : ' ' Like rails, woodcocks, 

 snipes, and many of the waders, the quail, when it travels 



