52 
QUAILS IN THE CRIMEA. 
sometimes alighted on vessels in the Mediterranean in sncli 
prodigious numbers as to sink them. Temminck thinks it 
probable that they emigrate for food, rather than to enjoy 
an uniform climate, and in this opinion Yarrell coincides, 
* as the great changes of temperature in India do not 
influence the movements of this species, food being abun- 
dant at all seasons.' It is from France and the Netherlands 
that our markets are chiefly supplied with these birds, 
which are more plentiful in Ireland than in any other part 
of the United Kingdom. Those imported birds which we 
find in the London poultry markets in the spring, are 
chiefly males, and, says a wTiter in the Illustrated Hews, 
' The reason why they are so is simply this ; the males, in 
flocks, precede, by several days, the arrival of the females, 
and, like sailors from a long voyage, meet with crimps 
ashore." Nets are prepared; the Quail-pipe, imitating 
the low note of the females, is heard ; the male utters his 
clear Avhistling trisyllable pee-voi-ree, by way of answering ; 
and, in this manner, scores at the time are drawn into the 
trap. The story has a moral, so it be read aright.' We 
may here fitly introduce Bishop Mant's lines, describing 
the natural phenomena of the month of May. He says ; — 
Less likely of your aim to fail, 
If with loud call the whistling quail 
Attract you, 'mid the bladed wheat 
To spread the skillful snare, and cheat 
AVith mimick sounds his amorous ear, 
Intent the female's cry to hear. 
For now the vernal warmth invites 
From Afric's coasts their northward flights ; 
And prompts to skim on nightly breeze 
Sicilian or Biscayan seas. 
Baron de Tott writes that no country abounds in Quails 
more than the Crimea. During the summer they are 
dispersed over the country ; but, at the approach of autumn, 
they assemble together, and cross the Black Sea to the 
southern coasts, when they afterwards transpjort themselves 
to a warmer climate. ' The order of their migration is 
invariable. Towards the end of August, on a serene day, 
when the wind blows from the north at sunset, and 
