358 TETBAONID/E. 



China,* India, tlic Cape of Good Hope, and England, and 

 must pronounce tlieni, in spite of the extraordinary geogra- 

 phical range, to be one species, the differences between the 

 specimens not being greater than are found amongst indi- 

 viduals from the same locality. The Indian bird has the 

 same cry of jnckerwick, or jyeek-wheet-wheet, Avhich, M. 

 Temminck says, induced M. Meyer to give it the specific 

 appellation of dactj/lisonmis.-^ 



A matter of considerable historical interest is associated 

 with this bird, as there is the strongest ground for believing 

 that it is the identical species, Tetrao Israditarum, of whose 

 instinct it pleased the Divinity to avail himself in supplying 

 the famisliing Israelites with food in the Wilderness. Au- 

 thors have differed with respect to the real nature of this 

 food; Rudbcck| asserting that it was n Jlying Jish, and 

 Ludolph§ that it was a locust : but the 26th, 27th, 28th, 

 and 29th verses of the 78th Psalm, determine it to have 

 been a bird : — " He caused an east wind to blow in the 

 heaven : and by his power he brought in the south wind. 

 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls 

 (fowl of wing) like as the sand of the sea : and he let it fall 

 in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 

 So they did eat, and were well-filled : for he gave them their 

 own desire." II 



Bochart^ and Dr. Harris** state that the Hebrew word 

 used is Selav, in Arabic Selwee, or Selvai (a Quail), which 

 is constantly rendered by the Septuagint oprvyot^'^rpa-, a 

 large kind of Quail. Aristotle, indeed, calls the Rail {Ral- 



* M. Temminck says our Quail is also found in Japan. 



+ Pig. et Gal. torn. iii. p. 501. 



% Ichthyol. Bibl. 



$ Comment, ad Hist. yEthiop. p. 108. 



II See also Exodus xvi. 13, and Numbers xi. 31 and 32. 



% De Animallbus S. Scripluia;. 



»* Natural History of the Bible, p. 317. 



