72 THE PHEASANT SUBFAMILY 



is deemed worthy of record in ornithological journals. Mr. Millais 

 puts down this decline "to a considerable extent" to drainage and 

 high cultivation. Yet both he and all other writers agree that the 

 quail thrives best where the partridge thrives best in cultivated 

 areas. It is certain, then, that we must seek elsewhere, and much 

 farther afield, for the reading of this riddle. 



Quail, unfortunately, have from time immemorial found favour 

 with the gourmet, who asks no questions, for conscience' sake. To 

 supply his demands, a positively appalling annual slaughter of quails 

 takes place, and has taken place, for more years than one cares 

 to contemplate, during the spring migration, as they cross the 

 Mediterranean from the south on their way to their breeding 

 quarters, and again on their return journey from Europe towards the 

 end of September. The vast hosts which cross this route are netted 

 by hundreds of thousands, and placed in large low cages, darkened 

 to prevent the prisoners from fighting. Herein they are packed 

 so as hardly to be able to stir, and by the time they have reached 

 the end of their dreadful journey, a large proportion of the captives 

 have died, so that vast as is the number annually consumed, the 

 numbers which are thrown away are almost as great. In one season 

 over a million quail have been taken on the island of Capri alone. 

 According to Mr. Whitaker, 1 Egypt is the country in which most of this 

 netting is now done, and Marseilles the chief port of consignment, 

 some seasons hundreds of thousands being landed there. Obviously 

 this is a matter which calls for international legislation, but inter- 

 national legislation is a very broken reed to trust to. 



So far only a bare reference has been made to the " song " of the 

 quail, that is to say, the call of the male, and this because it seems 

 hopeless to express this in human speech. At any rate, though 

 numerous attempts have been made to set this " music " to words, 

 the several results only serve to cancel one another out. According 

 to the most common rendering which, after all, means that which 



1 Birds of Tunisia, vol. ii. p. 251. 



