124 FAUNA AND FLORA OF PALESTINE. 



This is doubtless ' the Partridge in the wilderness ' alluded to in the 

 history of David, being plentiful about Engedi, where no other Partridge 

 is found. 



Hey's Partridge appears to be exclusively confined to the rocky 

 regions of the Sinaitic Peninsula and the Dead Sea, very rarely in Nubia, 

 and perhaps Abyssinia. In Northern Syria and Mesopotamia its place 

 is taken by Bonham's Partridge, an allied species. 



2S2. Francolimis vulgaris. Steph. Shaw. Gen. Zool. xi., p. 319. 

 The Francolin. Arab., J^S^, Kohal. 



The Francolin is found in all the swampy parts of the Holy Land, in 

 the plains of Sharon, Acre, and Esdraelon, Gennesaret, and Shittim, and 

 also by the Huleh. It is not numerous, except in Gennesaret, but is 

 widely spread. 



The Francolin is now extinct in Europe, though It formerly inhabited 

 Spain, Sardinia, Candia, and the Greek Islands. It still exists in Cyprus, 

 Asia Minor, and Syria, and thence through Mesopotamia, where I 

 shot it. Southern Persia, and North India by the Ganges as far as 

 Assam. 



283. Coturiiix communis. Bonn. Enc. Meth. i., p. 217. Quail. 

 Hebr., iS^. Arab., l/^. Saliva. 



A few pairs of Quail may be found here and there all through the 

 winter ; but in March they return by myriads in a single night, and 

 remain to breed in all the open plains, marshes and cornfields, both in the 

 Ghor and the upper country. 



The geographical range of the Quail is immense, comprising the 

 whole of Europe, Asia, and Africa, except the Arctic regions, being 

 everywhere more or less migratory, and the only bird of its family 

 which is so. 



