226 THE QUAIL 
and the dwarf prickly genista. It delights, too, in bushy ravines, 
or the steep sides of rocky hills covered with holly, thorns, and 
brambles ; and when it resorts to vineyards, it selects those situated 
on the sides of steep slopes, where marigolds and coltsfoot are the 
principal weeds, rabbits and vipers the most abundant animals.’ } 
Red Partridges are consequently most numerous in the least culti- 
vated districts of France, especially those between the Cher and the 
Loire, and between the Loire and the Seine. Towards the east they 
do not extend beyond the hills of Epernay, and do not cross the 
valley of the Meuse. The flesh of the Red Partridge is considered 
inferior to that of the Grey, and the bird itself is less esteemed by 
sportsmen as an object of pursuit. In England it seems to retain 
its natural taste of preferring bushy heaths to inclosed land. In 
the mode of incubation and rearing the young the two species are 
much alike. 
THE QUAIL. 
COTURNIX COMMUNIS 
‘Tus species’, says a French naturalist, ‘is probably the most 
productive of all winged creatures ; and it could not well be other- 
wise, 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 simple 
crossing of the Mediterranean costs the species by two well-known 
and often quoted facts. The Bishop of Capri, a wretched islet 
scarcely a league in length, which lies at the entrance of the Bay 
of Naples, used to clear a net revenue of 25,000 francs a year (£1,000) 
by his Quails. This sum represents 160,000 Quails at the lowest 
computation. In certain islands of the Archipelago, and parts of 
the coast of the Peloponnese, the inhabitants, 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 (‘they spread them all 
abroad for themselves ’) and packing them away in casks for trans- 
portation 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 Quail 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 towards the seashore, 
flies only in the night. It leaves the lands, where it has passed the 
day, about the dusk of the evening, and settles again with the dawn 
1 Toussenel, 
