QUAIL. 10-5 



RASORES. TETRAONID/E, 



PLATE CLVII 



QUAIL. 



PERDIX COTURNIX. 



The Quail is not only a well known bird in Britain as 

 a summer visitant, but throughout the mild parts of Europe 

 and Asia it is met with, as also in the north of Africa ; and 

 in some islands of the Mediterranean these birds are so very 

 plentiful, that the name of Quail Islands has been bestowed 

 on them. 



Mr. H. M. Drummond, in his " Catalogue of Birds found 

 in Corfu," published in the " Magazine of Natural History," 

 also speaks of the numbers of this species that visit that 

 island in the course of their migration, in the following- 

 words : — " The first of these birds make their appearance 

 about the 27th of March ; but the grand flight, which 

 depends much upon the wind, (which is required to be from 

 the southward,) does not arrive till the 10th or 15th of 

 April, when they sometimes appear in such numbers, especi- 

 ally in the island of Faro, that instances have not been 

 wanting of fifty or sixty couple being killed by a single 

 gun in two or three hours. Many of them are so tired, 

 that, being unable to reach the land, they fall into the sea 

 and are instantly devoured by the gulls (Larus argentatus) 

 and the ravens, which hover about on these occasions in 

 great numbers. They return again about the 15th of 



