COMMON QUAIL. 359 



las and Crex) orti/gometra ; but on the whole it is to be 

 inferred from Bochart that the Greeks used the word rather 

 to indicate the size of the oprv^, than as descriptive of a 

 different bird ; and Josephus considers oprvyof^rjTpoc and 

 oprv^ synonymous, and states that Quails abound on the 

 gulf of the Red Sea ; * and we know that they abound in 

 Egypt, Barbary, Asia Minor, and at certain seasons in Eu- 

 rope at the present day. 



There is another mode to connect the bird of Scripture 

 with the Coturnix dacti/lisonans, and this is- readily done by 

 the simple fact of its being the only species of Quail that 

 migrates in multitudes ; indeed we have not any satisfactory 

 account that any other species of Quail is migratory. Aris- 

 totle mentions the habit ; and Pliny states they sometimes 

 alight on vessels in the Mediterranean, and sink them ! 

 Belon found Quails alight in autumn on a vessel bound from 

 Rhodes to Alexandria ; they were passing from the north to 

 the south, and had wheat in their craws. In the preceding 

 sj^ring, sailing from Zante to the Morca, he saw flights of 

 Quails going from the south northwards. BufFon relates 

 that M. le Commandant Godelun saw Quails constantly pass- 

 ing Malta during certain winds in May, and repassing in 

 September ; and that they flew by night. Tourncfort says 

 that almost all the isles of the Archipelago are covered with 

 them in certain times of the year. In the commencement of 

 autumn, such great quantities are captured in the isle of 

 Capri, near Naples, as in former times to afford the bishop 

 the chief part of his revenue ; and he was called in conse- 

 quence the Bishop of Quails. M. Temminck says that in 

 spring such prodigious numbers of Quails alight on the 

 western shores of the kingdom of Naples, about Nettuno, 

 that one hundred thousand are taken in a day. They also 

 arrive in spring in similar numbers on the shores of Provence, 

 * Lib. iii. cap. 1. 



