130 OTIDJE. 



succeeded in obtaining nests in the county of Dublin which 

 had been set by a dog. 



In Germany and Holland the quail is admired for the sim- 

 ple beauty of its call-note (or song, as they are pleased to term 

 it), and it is caged and suspended from the windows of every 

 class. In England it is fattened for the table, and we see 

 it caged in the shops of the London poulterers, enjoying 

 the same unenviable distinction as the ortolan, to furnish a 

 luxurious morsel to the epicure. 



This species is believed to have been the bird sent in such 

 countless flocks to preserve the Israelites in the Desert, both 

 from the Mosaic account and the tradition of the Arabs, who 

 name the quail, " salwa," and who also believe it to have had 

 no bones, and to have been eaten whole. Transferred from 

 Holy Writ to the Koran, we find the following passage in ac- 

 cordance with the above : " And God caused manna and 

 quails to descend upon you."* 



We might scarcely wonder at its abundance there, when it 

 occurs in such numbers in the south of Europe, that during 

 the time of its passage across the Mediterranean, 100,000 

 are said to have been captured in a single day ; so much so, 

 that in Sicily half the population turn out, en masse, to enact 

 a novel Sicilian vesper upon the myriads of unfortunate quails 

 arriving upon their shores ; and so lucratively do they dis- 

 pose of them that the principal revenues of the Bishop of 

 Capri is said to be derived from the proceeds. 



Indigenous. 



FAMILY XXVIL OTID^ (BUSTARDS). 



GENUS LXIII. OTUS (BUSTARD). 



SPECIES 121 THE LITTLE BUSTARD. 



Otis minor. Willoughby. 

 Outard canepetiere. Temm. 



THIS handsomely plumaged species, with its very minute 

 and beautiful markings, is one invested with considerable in- 

 terest, from the fact of its being the only representative of 



* Sale's Koran. 



