[ »8i 3 



of quail, which is defcribed by Dr. Shaw and is diftinguifhed 

 from the other kinds by wanting the hind-claw. Dr. Shaw 

 alfo ftates that it is a bird of paffage. Now if quails really 

 migrate from the coaft of Barbary to Italy, as is commonly 

 fuppofed, whence can it have arifen that this remarkable fpecics 

 hath efcaped the notice of Aldrovandus, Olina, and the other 

 Italian ornithologifts ? 



When I had juft finifhed what I have here faid with regard to 

 the migration of quails, I had an opportunity of feeing the fecond 

 volume of Monf. de BufFon's ornithology m ; where he contends, 

 that this bird leaves Europe in the winter. 



It is incumbent upon me, therefore, either to own I am con- 

 vinced by what this moft ingenious and able naturalift hath urged, 

 or to give my reafons why 1 ftill continue to difFent from the opi- 

 nion he maintains. 



Though M. de BufFon hath difcufFed this point very much at 

 large, yet I find only the following facts or arguments to be 

 new. 



He firft cites the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences n , for an 

 account given by M. Godeheu of quails coming to the ifland of 

 Malta in the month of May, and leaving it in September. 



The firft anfwer to this obfervation is, that the ifland of Malta 

 is not only near to the coaft of Africa, but to feveral of the Medi- 

 terranean illands ; it therefore amounts to no more than the flitting 

 I have before taken notice of 0 . 



BufFon 



1 Phyf. Obf. on the kingdom of Algiers, ch. 2. See alio an engraving 

 and description of fuch a quail which is found in Luconia, one of the 

 Philippine Wands. Sonneratte's Voyage. Paris, 1776, 410. 



m See p. & feq. 



n Tom. III. p. 91 and 92. 



0 Both Monf. de Godeheu and M. de BufFon feem to conceive that the 

 quail fhould fiy in the fame direction as the wind blows; but birds on 



the 



