BIRDS AT NIGHT 193 



managed to live in the Indian forests among 

 all sorts of enemies, but evidently he is not 

 easily caught napping. 



The little quail, although a bird of the 

 fowl kind, is quite lively at night ; in fact, 

 I think it is more of a night than a day bird, 

 for one I once kept loose in a room was always 

 more lively at night, and would come then 

 inside the fender and enjoy itself by rolling 

 in the hot ashes under the grate, though a 

 hot cinder falling on its back would now and 

 then make it shoot out in a great hurry. It 

 is known, besides, that quails, when on their 

 passage in spring and autumn, generally fly 

 at night, and so do most of the small helpless 

 birds, such as the various warblers, which 

 visit us in the summer-time; the small birds 

 which are seen migrating by day are mostly 

 those which have been delayed or have mis- 

 calculated their time, and so have to finish 

 the journey in the light. 



It was for a long time a great puzzle to 

 naturalists why the little travellers should 

 be on their journey at the time when they 

 would be snugly at roost if they were at home, 

 and it is only of late years that the reason 



25 



