1 
io5 TRAVELS IN 
that they have obferved them at fea : but this 
does not decide the queftion ; for, at the diftance 
of more than fixty leagues from the coaft, I 
have {hot ftarlings, chafHnches, hnnets, and an 
owl. All thefe birds, which, as is well known, 
never pafs the fea, had been undoubtedly 
driven from their courfe by fome violent ftorm 
or hurricane ; and I fhall always believe that 
the cafe was the fame with thofe quails which 
have been met at fea, until this part of the 
natural hiftory of birds be better elucidated. 
I am fo much the more inclined to difbe- 
lieve that quails crofs the fea, becaufe they may 
go by land to Africa, and return by the fame 
route. It is very probable that if t^ofe of the 
ifle of Roben dare not venture to crofs that 
fmall fpace of fea which feparates them from 
the coaft, much lefs will they dare to hazard a 
paflage incomparably more confiderable. The 
quail is a very heavy bird 5 and the fmallnefs 
of its wings, in proportion to the weight of its 
body, is nowlfe fuited to a long and continued 
flight. There is fcarcely a fportfman who does 
not know by experience that, when he fprings 
a quail three or four times fucceifively, it is im? 
poffible for it to fly any more , and that, over- 
come 
