Ornithology of the Var S^c. 397 



many Mediterranean species as compared with their more 

 sombre hues in England is striking : is it the effect of the 

 sun, which causes dead objects to fade, but seems to enhance 

 the colours of the living ? 



Quail. Coturnix communis. 



Every one who has flushed Quails must remember the 

 headlong way in which they fly, partly due to the straightness 

 and rapidity of their course, partly to their being dazzled 

 by the light (for in some cases it happens immediately after a 

 night journey), but they do not at any time like to rise in the 

 heat of the day if they can avoid it. Sometimes, when 

 flushed by one sportsman, they fly blindly direct towards 

 another, without seeing where they go, though seldom 

 travelling more than five hundred yards or rising more than 

 six feet from the grouud. 



In spring the chief arrival, says M. Pellicot (whose 

 admirable account of Quail-shooting occupies eight pages), 

 takes place at 8 a.m.; but some have been found earlier, 

 and there are times when they may be seen dropping in 

 from the sea all day. When this is the case, it should not 

 be inferred that the wind has been favourable, but quite the 

 reverse, for migrator}^ Quails which left Algeria the evening 

 before ought to have made the coast of France by sunrise if 

 they fly at 37 miles an hour, which is a very reasonable 

 estimate. [See 'The Field,' July 9th, 1898.) First comers 

 are called " Cailles vertes," in allusion to the green tints of 

 spring. 



The Quail has been accounted a nocturnal bird from the 

 very earliest times, for even in the Book of Exodus the 

 sacred writer says, '^at even the Quails came up," in entire 

 accordance with their habits at the present day. Any there- 

 fore that come in the daytime are birds which have been late 

 in starting, or more likely have been delayed by the wind 

 en route. They arrive at the end of April, but many dangers 

 are in store for them, both by land and by sea, as exemplified 

 by the following incident. Happening one day to be at 

 Ciotat, a village on the coast, previously mentioned in my 



