THE QUAIL 105 
must notice and learn from actual experience, and 
the various calls and notes are so individual that 
when once really noted are never forgotten, and 
to at all a good ear these aids to identification 
are as sure as if the very bird were placed in 
his hands. Quail pass through Egypt when on 
their way to their more northerly breeding quarters 
early in March and April. Some few may remain 
the year through, but they are a small minority. 
The return to Egypt is from September to 
November, and it is during these journeyings that 
the vast quantities are caught in nets, which later 
are sent to every European city for the tables of 
the rich, Mr. C. D. Burnett-Stuart very kindly 
has given me the following notes :— 
“From Alexandria to Port Said the whole 
length of coast is practically hung with nets; but 
Government lately has forbidden the placing of 
the nets on the actual foreshore which it controls, 
which were the most killing positions, and the 
nets can now only be placed farther back on 
private and cultivated ground. The numbers of 
Quail which must migrate passes belief, for it is 
recorded that in Coronation Year five million were 
ordered and supplied for the English market alone.” 
“The route which they take leaving Egypt 
14 
