108 QUAIL SHOOTING. 



below Purfleet," says this writer, " several farmers 

 and sportsmen have assured me, that, about the be- 

 ginning of November, a time at which the departm-e 

 of the main body has taken place, a small number of 

 quails make their appearance, and continue during 

 the winter, always a short distance from the liver's 

 edge. These are evidently the young birds of the 

 second bevy, who, for some reason, seek that parti- 

 cular situation after the migration of the rest of their 

 species." 



As most of the migratoiy birds — all those that 

 may be called game of the second class — are more 

 scarce with us than they were, it follows that the 

 quail is in a similar categoiy. For this cause we 

 find them more plentiful in Ireland than England ; 

 tlie former island being also infinitely better supplied 

 with woodcocks and snipe than the latter. The 

 migratory tribes, no doubt, recede before civilization, 

 and are found precisely in the inverse ratio to the 

 cultivation of the district. As they cannot be sub- 

 jected to the process of presei-ving, the day will 

 probably come when one of the species will be as 

 rare as a bustard is now. 



It is said, that quails do not pack except when 

 some strong local cause drives them to associate 

 together, for an especial purpose. The family of 

 migratory birds is not certainly gregarious ; but our 

 own experience of this bird leads us to think it is an 

 exception to the general rule of the species. We 

 have never found it in that state of isolation, common 



