158 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE QUAIL. 



THERE has been a difference of opinion among learned men, with 

 respect to what creature is intended by the Hebrew word which 

 we render quails, Exodus xvi. 13, &c. 



It would appear, however, that the quail is a bird of passage, and 

 about the size of the turtle-dove. Hasselquist states that that it'is 

 plentiful near the shores of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and also 

 in the deserts of Arabia. 



On two occasions the demands of the murmuring Hebrews were 

 supplied with quails; and, in each case, the event is distantly refer- 

 red to the miraculous interposition of God, Exod. xvi. 12, 13; 

 Numb. xi. 31. On the former occasion, the birds were scattered 

 about the camp only for a single day ; but, on the latter, they came 

 up from the sea for an entire month. The great numbers of them 

 which are said to have been provided for the people, has beer, re- 

 garded as almost incredible, but without sufficient reason, as may 

 be shown, without resorting to the supposition that they were cre- 

 ated for this express occasion. Varro asserts, that turtle* and quails 

 return from their migrations into Italy in immense numbers ; and 

 Solinus adds, that when they come within sight of land, they rush 

 forward in large bodies, and with so great impetuosity as often to 

 endanger the safety of navigators, by alighting upon the sails in the 

 night, and by their weight oversetting the vessels. Hence it ap- 

 pears, that this part of the narrative is perfectly credible ; and that 

 the miracle consisted in the immense flocks being directed to a par- 

 ticular spot, in the extreme emergency of the people, by means of 

 a wind from the Lord,' Numb. xi. 31. 



