Ornithology of the Mediterranean. 269 



shooting in tne south of Europe. In the winter there arc 

 plenty of Quail^ and, to my mind, there are very ^e.vf better 

 sports than shooting them, and very few birds better to eat, 

 when they are shot. Leaving Europe for Syria, we come on the 

 only other bird of the Perdix genus that is commonly met with, 

 the Francolin : as he rises like a Pheasant from the arbutus- 

 bushes and babecr-cane, frightened by the investigating nose 

 of your spaniel, he dashes the trembling dew-drops from the 

 before-mentioned cover, and starts with a loud cark-cark for 

 denser shelter. Ah ! beauteous bird, never shall I forget the 

 gorgeous flash that the morning sun, peering over the distant 

 Mountains of Lebanon, would throw over thy body as thou 

 fleddest to thy other haunts : but I wander. Could not this bird 

 be introduced to England ? I believe that it rivals the Pheasant, 

 both in beauty and flavour, and would exist in many marshy, 

 scrubby places where the latter bird would not show his aristo- 

 cratic beak. The climate would be no drawback ; for some years 

 ago it existed in great quantities in the south of Europe, where 

 the weather is very severe in the winter. 



I was a good deal at sea, and I need not say that I watched 

 anxiously for any facts connected with the migrations of birds ; 

 and I found that in the spring, when going to the north, the 

 greater number of them crossed when the wind was either 

 westerly or north-westerly ; while in the autumn, when going to 

 the south, they appeared to prefer it in an easterly or south- 

 easterly direction. From this I was led to infer that they do not 

 like a fair wind to travel with, but prefer it on one side or the 

 other; and also that they give the preference to its being on 

 their left side. I do not state this as a fact without exceptions ; 

 for I have frequently noticed birds, especially the larger ones, 

 which generally fly by day, crossing without any regard to the 

 wind. 



During the fortnight or three weeks in spring when the 

 Quail are passing to the northward, should there have been a 

 light wind from the west during the night, the island of Malta 

 will probably be covered with them in the morning ; but if the 

 wind was from the eastward, it would be very little use looking 

 for any. But when they are going to the southward in autumn 



