[ *79 1 



as the return of the feafons, or the motions of a flated car- 

 rier. 



I cannot do better than to follow thefe according to chronolo- 

 gical order. 



The firfr, in point of time is that which is cited by Willough- 

 by s , from Bellon, whofe words are thus translated, " When we 

 " failed from Rhodes to Alexandria, many quails flying from the 

 44 North towards the South were taken in our (hip, whence I 

 " am perfuaded that they fhift places ; for formerly, when I 

 44 failed out of the Ifle of Zant to Morea, or Negropont, in the 

 44 fpring, I had obferved quails flying the contrary way to N. 

 44 and S. that they might abide there all fummer, at which time 

 44 alfo a great many were taken in the fhip." 



Let us now confider what is to be inferred from this citation. 



In the flrft place, Bellon does not particularize the longitude 

 and latitude of that part of the Mediterranean which he was then 

 croffing ; and in his courfe from Rhodes to Alexandria, both the 

 iflands of Scarpanto and Crete could be at no great diflance : 

 thefe quails therefore were probably flitting from one ifland of the 

 Mediteranean h to another. 



The fame obfervation may be made with regard to the quails 

 which he faw between Zant and Negropont, as the whole pafiage 

 is crouded with iflands ; they therefore might be palling from 



e B. II. c.n. § 8. 



h One of the Mediterranean inlands is fuppofed to have obtained its 

 ancient name of Ortygia from the numbers of quails. The Mediterra- 

 nean birds alfo flit from the iflands to the continent. 



EpXjOixsvov dig :og %cjq;i. Arati/S — * 



who. is known to have attended particularly to the flights of birds 3 

 as they afTbrded prognoftics of the weather. 



A a 2 



ifland 



