THE QUAIL 105 



must notice and learn from actual experience, and 

 the various calls and notes are so individual that 

 when once really noted are never forgotten, and 

 to at all a good ear these aids to identification 

 are as sure as if the very bird were placed in 

 his hands. Quail pass through Egypt when on 

 their way to their more northerly breeding quarters 

 early in March and April. Some few may remain 

 the year through, but they are a small minority. 

 The return to Egypt is from September to 

 November, and it is during these journeyings that 

 the vast quantities are caught in nets, which later 

 are sent to every European city for the tables of 

 the rich. Mr. C. D. Burnett-Stuart very kindly 

 has given me the following notes : — 



"From Alexandria to Port Said the whole 

 length of coast is practically hung with nets ; but 

 Government lately has forbidden the placing of 

 the nets on the actual foreshore which it controls, 

 which were the most killing positions, and the 

 nets can now only be placed farther back on 

 private and cultivated ground. The numbers of 

 Quail which must migrate passes belief, for it is 

 recorded that in Coronation Year five million were 

 ordered and supplied for the English market alone." 



" The route which they take leaving Egypt 



14 



