87 



QUAIL. 



Coturnix vulgaris, 



. 



. 



Flejun-g. 



Perdix coturnix, 



. 



. 



Letn-^x's. 



Coturnix dactylisonans, 



. 



. 



GOCT/D. 



Caille ordinaire, 



• 



■ 



TTHnrrxcK. 



Coturnix — A Quail. 



Vulgaris- 



-Common. 





This pretty little bird has been 'well known from the very earliest times, and has 

 always excited much attention, from its migratory habits. This is supposed to be the 

 Quail mentioned in the Holy Scriptures, as having miraculously supplied food for the 

 children of Israel in the -wilderness; and. although this is disputed by some, still, as "we 

 know that the Almighty generallv uses ordinary means, even in producing extraordinary 

 results, we are disposed to think that the evidence is in favour of this species being the bird, 

 because, as Mr. Tarrell has 'well remarked, this is the only species of Quail that migrates 

 in multitudes: this fact added to the previous probability, we think, almost settles the 

 question, as far as it can be settled. The enormous numbers that migrate in a body 

 have caught the attention of naturalists from a very early date; thus we find Pliny 

 stating that a flock of Quails in their migration, settling upon a vessel sailing in the 

 Mediterranean Sea, has been known to sink it, so vast were the multitudes that alighted 

 upon it: mistaking it, no doubt, for a rock or small island, they attempted to rest their 

 weary -wings, and not onlv destroved it, but themselves also. The vessel must, however, 

 have been some of the smaller barks navisratinsr the calm -waters of the Mediterranean. 



The multitudes that arrive in the spring, on their way northwards, at all the shores of 

 the Mediterranean, and islands of the Grecian Archipelago, afford a most profitable and valuable 

 harvest to the inhabitants; who. on their advent, sally out and attack them in every way. so 

 that myriads must be annually destroved among the various islands and places where they 

 first alight. Guns, nets, sticks, and stones are all called into requisition, and the whole 

 country is in a state of excitement; and, as Maegillivray says, '"According to an eye- 

 witness, enviable is the lot of the idle apprentice, who, with a borrowed old musket 

 or pistol, no matter how unsafe, has gained possession of the farthest accessible rock, 

 where there is but room for himself and his dog, which he has fed with bread 

 only all the year round for these delightful days, and which sits in as happy expectation 



