COMMON QUAIL. 417 



is constantly rendered by the Septuagint opruyopYiTfa, a 

 large kind of Quail. Aristotle, indeed, calls the Rail 

 (Rallus and Crex) ortygometra; but on the whole it is to 

 be inferred from Bochart that the Greeks used the word 

 rather to indicate the size of the ofryf, than as descriptive 

 of a different bird; and Josephus considers ofTvyoiwrqct 

 and ofTi/| synonymous, and states that Quails abound on 

 the gulf of the Red Sea ;* and we know that they abound 

 in Egypt, Barbary, Asia Minor, and at certain seasons in 

 Europe, at the present day. 



There is another mode to connect the bird of Scripture 

 with the Coturnix dactylisonans , and this is readily done by 

 the simple fact of its being the only species of Quail that 

 migrates in multitudes ; indeed we have not any satisfac- 

 tory account that any other species of Quail is migratory. 

 Aristotle mentions the habit ; and Pliny states they some- 

 times alight on vessels in the Mediterranean and sink them ! 

 Belon found Quails alight in autumn on a vessel bound 

 from Rhodes to Alexandria ; they were passing from the 

 north to the south, and had wheat in their craws. In the 

 preceding spring, sailing from Zante to the Morea, he saw 

 flights of Quails going from the south northwards. Buffon 

 relates that M. le Commandant Godelun saw Quails con- 

 stantly passing Malta during certain winds in May, and 

 repassing in September; and that they flew by night. 

 Tournefort says that almost all the isles of the Archipelago 

 are covered with them in certain times of the year. In the 

 commencement of autumn, such great quantities are cap- 

 tured in the isle of Capri, f near Naples, as in former times 

 to afford the bishop the chief part of his revenue ; and 

 he was called in consequence the Bishop of Quails. M. 



* Lib. iii. cap. 1. 



t On this small island alone, called Goat Island, at the entrance of the 

 Bay of Naples, 160,000 Quails are recorded to have been netted in one 

 season. 



VOL. II. E E 



