~Egg of the Common Quail natural size 



CHAPTER X. 



THE COMMON OR DACTYL-SOUNDING QUAIL. 

 ( Cetumix dactylisonans, GOULD.) 



Emblem of mediocrity. Explanation of specific name. Call note. Their 

 migrations. Immense multitudes. Their destruction. Ancient history. 

 Identical with the Quail of Scripture. Do not universally migrate. Welcome 

 feasts afforded by their flight. Quails in captivity. Their fate in an aviary. 

 Distinction between Quails and Partridges. Unvarying plumage throughout 

 the Old World. Whether polygamous. Careless of their young. Their double 

 moult. Breeding in confinement. Diet. Subject to epilepsy. Estimation as 

 food. Modes of cooking and of fatting. Quail fights. Distinction of sex. 

 Pick-werwick. Quails in process of fatting. Necessaries of life. 



" BIKDS, faithfully imaging the relations of this life, 

 offer to us, in the variety of their plumage, types of the 

 distinctions which exist in the state in which Man finds 

 himself placed. Many a one, puffed up with his wealth 

 or his knowledge, resemhles a Peacock, who, admiring 

 his own splendour, seems himself to enjoy the magnifi- 

 cence which he displays; whilst the Quail, modestly 

 clad, hiding itself from all eyes in its obscure retreat, 

 is a representative of humble mediocrity, which strives 



