Birds. 1125 



passes between the 10th and the 20th of September, and a few strag- 

 glers have frequently been observed as late as the 12th and 14th of 

 October. Quails never winter in Provence : but many remain during 

 that season in Corsica, from whence the Toulon market receives its 

 winter supplies. Sportsmen assert that the earlier migrants are en- 

 tirely males ; and it is very certain that towards the close of the mi- 

 gration females vastly predominate : and this is so invariable, that 

 experienced men will predict with great precision the duration of the 

 migration, by the comparative number of the sexes observed or killed 

 in their passage. The latest flocks are composed solely of females 

 and young, without the occurrence of a single adult male. A west 

 wind, accompanied by light rain, is favourable to migration, but a 

 stormy sky or dense fog always delays it. Like the rails, woodcocks, 

 snipes, and many of the waders, the quail, when it travels towards the 

 sea-shore, flies only in the night. It leaves the lands w r here it has 

 passed the day about the dusk of the evening, and settles again with 

 the dawn of morning. On this account it is that there is a zone near 

 the shore, parallel with the sea, where the quails are seldom seen : 

 sportsmen are well aware of this. 



It is generally believed in this country, that when the quails ex- 

 change the shores of France for the coast of Africa, they pass the sea 

 without stopping. I am of a different opinion. I believe that they 

 stay in the isles of Corsica and Sardinia, or on the other side of the 

 Balearic Isles. What confirms me in my opinion is, that quail-shoot- 

 ing in Corsica and Sardinia is considered magnificent sport. The ob- 

 jection to this opinion is, that there is nothing to prove that the quails 

 which arrive in these isles come from France. It is true that another 

 objection* is, that there is nothing surprising in crossing the Medi- 

 terranean in one night, since, if we allow the flight of the quail to be 

 equal to that of a pigeon, that is to say, fifteen leagues an hour, the 

 quail will only require from eleven to thirteen hours to make the pas- 

 sage, and only eight or ten if we grant it the same velocity as the ring 

 dove. It is asserted that the quail possesses very great muscular 

 strength ; and besides that, the rapidity of birds in travelling is sur- 

 prising. The falcon of Henry II. being let fly after a little bustard 

 (Otus Tetrax), in the wood of Fontainbleau, was taken on the morrow 

 in the island of Malta, and known by its collar. And to these objec- 

 tions the following may be added. In autumn, a great number of 



* I draw these objections from an article * On Quail-shooting,' published by M. 

 Pellicot, chasseur de Toulon, in the Report of the Societe des Sciences du Var, 1838, 



