314 PARTRIDGE. 



being the same kind of birds which the hand of Providence directed 

 in such quantities as to cover the camp of the murmuring Israelites.* 

 We are told, that no country abounds in Quails more than the 

 Crimea;! these birds, during the fine weather, are dispersed, but 

 assemble at the approach of autumn, and cross the Black Sea, to the 

 southern coasts, whence they afterwards transport themselves into a 

 warmer climate. The order of this emigration is invariable; towards 

 the end of August, in a serene day, when the wind blows from the 

 north at sun set, and promises a fine night, they repair to the strand, 

 take their departure at six or seven in the evening, and have finished 

 a journey of fifty leagues by break of day ;+ nets are spread on the 

 opposite shore, and the bird catchers, waiting their arrival, take tithe 

 of these emigrants, as an esteemed food.|| We are told by Sir Wm. 

 Hamilton, § that great numbers of them occasionally visit the Island 

 of St. Stefano, the general inhabitants of which are Hawks, and a 

 large kind of Gull ; and as great flights of Quails arrive there from 

 Africa, spent with fatigue, quantities of them fall a prey to these 

 depredators. It is, however, observed, that many stay in several of 

 the Islands of the Mediterranean ; nor do they migrate till their 

 necessities, from greater numbers being produced than conveniently 

 can find food, oblige them to seek it elsewhere. In the Isthmus of 



* Exod. xvi. v. 13. It appears, that the autumnal departure principally takes place in 

 the Mediterranean Islands, whither the new generation flocks in too great numbers to be 

 supplied with food for any length of time. The migration of birds is plainly owing to dif- 

 ferent causes. In some occasioned by their incapacity to bear the severit}- of the climates 

 they forsake; in others the want of suitable food in proportion to their increase, at particu- 

 lar seasons, and on the latter cause will the migration of Quails most probably depend; 

 therefore no good arguments can be drawn against migration in general, from the circum- 

 stances observable in particular species. 



f Baron de Tott. J Said sometimes to alight in such numbers on the sails of 



the vessels in the course of their passage, as to sink them by their weight. — Plin. Nat. Hist. 

 lib. x. ch. xxiii. 



[| Not so accounted by the ancients : Pliny says, they were not served up at the table, 

 both ou account of their feeding on hellebore, and being subject to the falling sickness. Id. ib. 



§ Phil. Trans, vol. lxxvi. p. 372. 



