48 
NOT DEAD YET. 
neck " witli some others, in a net, by a leather strap, con- 
trived for the purpose. In this durance, the poor animal 
remained during the rest of the day and the following 
night, being hung up with the bag in the gun-room. On 
the following day, when the keeper proceeded to hand oyer 
his prey to the cook, this bird was shaken out of his collar 
upon the table ; Avhereupon he immediately got upon his 
legs, looked about him, flew straight to the window, through 
a pane of which he broke his way, and escaped.' 
QUAILS. 
These are birds, generally of small size, which by the 
older winters were classed with the Partridges ; but recent 
ornithologists have formed of them a distinct genus, under 
the title Coturnix, They differ from the Partridges chiefly 
in having the head entirely feathered, the wings straighter 
and more pointed, and the tail smaller. The male birds 
are extremely pugnacious, and are said to be polygamous. 
In all other respects they are like their relatives, living on 
seeds, herbaceous substances, and insects, and frequenting 
grass}^ pastures, cultivated fields, and shrubby wastes. 
Quails are extensively distributed over the old continent, 
and are, some of tliem, if not all, migratory. But one 
species occurs in Britain, where it is merely a summer 
visitant, although occasionally individuals winter with us. 
Whether the Common European, or Wandering Quail 
{Perdix Coturnix), is the veritable Quail of Holy Scrip- 
ture or not, is a disputed point ; certain it is that it is a 
migratory species, and that it is foimd in vast flocks in 
many parts of the East, so as to give sufficient ground for 
the supposition that the children of Israel, in their journey 
across the desert, might have taken this bird in sufficient 
numbers to afford them sustenance. Travellers tell us 
that in Egypt, to this day, at the proper season, they are 
so abundant, that the people cannot consume those which 
they capture in a fresh state, and therefore salt them for 
future use ; and have expressed their conviction that it 
needed but such a suitable wind as the Almighty sent, to 
