ITS HABITS. 179 



English and foreign. Kjferbolling says, for instance, 

 "Each male has several females about him, and does not 

 confine himself to one alone ; but should he be obliged 

 to restrict himself to a single partner, there is scarcely to 

 be found amongst our native birds that live in pairs, a 

 single one that is so base a paterfamilias as the Quail, who 

 in this respect resembles all others that are polygamists." 



The female makes a very simple nest in the ground : 

 a mere cavity, in short, that she forms herself in a corn- 

 field or meadow. Her eggs, from eight to fourteen in 

 number, are of a greenish-yellow colour, marked with 

 brown and black spots and blotches. The period of incu- 

 bation is believed to be twenty-one days. The poults are 

 said to grow rapidly, and to be fully fledged in the course 

 of a few weeks. 



The Quails captured in Scandinavia are few in number. 

 Some are taken in nets along with the Partridge ; others, 

 again, are shot to the Pointer, or enticed within reach of 

 the gunner by imitating its call-note. 



It is highly prized for the table, its flesh being very 

 delicate and " little inferior to that of the Land-Rail." 

 The- English market, as known, is abundantly supplied 

 with these birds from France. We are told, indeed, that 

 " as many as 3,000 dozen have been purchased of the 

 dealers by the London poulterers in a single season." 



The immense flights of Quails seen during their 

 autumnal migrations from Europe to the shores of Africa, 

 and on their return from thence in the spring, are the 

 astonishment of every one, and singularly corroborate 

 the account given in the Scriptures of the prodigious 

 numbers met with by the Israelites when in the wilder- 

 ness. We are told by travellers, for instance, that whilst 

 these birds are crossing the Mediterranean they often 

 alight on the intermediate islands in such immense flocks 

 as almost to cover them ; that on the western coast of 



N 2 



