110 



QUAIL SHOOTING. 



than of Great Britain : in the latter kingdom, indeed, 

 it is now but an occasional visitant; although, thirty \ 

 years back, it was a pretty regular attendant of the 



stubble fields near the coasts, at their season, in the 

 mild south and midland counties of England. This 

 bird is so wary, that after the first time it is wonder- 

 fully difficult to flush. Almost all the birds in our 

 market, of this species, are those imported alive (to 

 fatten) by the London poulterers, from France ; where 

 they are most abundant, and where they are taken by 

 nets, into which the imitation of their call entraps 

 them. But in Sicily is the greatest quail harvest. 

 On its coast, in Italy, and the Greek islands, they 

 will arrive by hundreds of thousands. Formerly the 

 principal revenue of the Bishop of Capri was the 



