144 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



visitations of quail from continental Europe, and this 

 perhaps is to be accounted for in some degree by the fact 

 of the spring months in those years being exceptionally 

 dry. This notwithstanding, it cannot for one moment 

 be doubted that in late years there has been a marked 

 diminution of numbers in respect of our annual visit- 

 ation of quail. The wholesale destruction meted out to 

 the large flocks of migratory quail along the Mediter- 

 ranean littoral is doubtless greatly responsible for this 

 falling off. In Egypt alone hundreds of thousands of 

 quail are taken each year for exportation to foreign 

 countries. Figures furnished by Lord Cromer in a 

 recent official report show that the average number of 

 quail annually exported from Egypt during the five 

 years 1892-96 amounted to 1,100,000. In 1896 the 

 enormous total of 1.231,489 was reached, and of these 

 1,041,744 were sent to France, 155,245 to England, and 

 34,500 to Italy. But even these figures, startling as 

 they may appear to both naturalist and sportsman, 

 convey but a feeble impression as to the number of 

 quail yearly consumed in Great Britain. It is reported 

 on excellent authority that hundreds of thousands of 

 these birds are brought, alive or dead, to the London 

 market from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 

 These importations commence in February or March, 

 and last for several months. The majority of the quail 

 arriving here are sent from the north coast of Africa, and 

 for some years the consignments were brought overland 

 by way of Marseilles. 



The Association of Chasseurs Frangais recently 

 revolted against this state of affairs, and in a petition 

 bearing no less than 6000 signatures asked the French 

 Minister of Agriculture to prohibit the transit of live 



