286 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
they may be caught with the hand. In some parts of the 
south of Russia they abound so greatly, that at the 
time of their migration, they are caught by thousands, and 
sent in casks to Moscow and Petersburgh. 
It seems that great quantities of these birds are import- 
ed into England from France. They are conveyed by 
stage-coaches; about one hundred in a large square box, 
divided into five or six compartments, one above another, 
just high enough to admit the Quails to stand upright. 
Were they allowed a greater height than this, they would 
soon kill themselves; and even with this precaution the 
feathers on the top of the head are generally beaten off. 
These boxes have wire on the fore part, and each parti- 
tion is furnished with a small trough for food. They 
may be forwarded in this manner, without difficulty, to 
great distances. 
With respect to these birds having an instinctive know- 
ledge of the precise time for emigration, there is a very 
singular fact in some young Quails, which had been bred 
in a state of confinement from the earliest period of their 
lives, had never enjoyed, and therefore could not feel the 
loss of liberty. For four successive years, they were ob- 
served to be restless, and to flutter, with unusual agita- 
tions, regularly in September and April; and this uneasi- 
ness lasted thirty days at each time. It began constant- 
ly about 3n hour before sunset. The birds passed the 
whole night in these fruitless struggles; and always on the 
following day appeared dejected and stupid. 
Quails are birds of undaunted courage, and their quar- 
rels often terminate in mutual destruction. This irascible 
disposition induced the ancient Greeks and Romans to 
fight them with each other, as the moderns do game cooks. 
And such favourites were the conquerors, that, in one in- 
stance, Augustus punished a prefect of Egypt with death 
for bringing to his table one of these birds which had 
acquired celebrity for its victories: — so at least it is re- 
corded; but, when the character of Augustus is taken into 
consideration, the account appears scarcely entitled to 
credit. 
Sometimes combats, we are told, were performed be- 
tween a Quail and a man; the Quail was put into a large 
box, and set in the middle of a circle traced on the floor; 
the man struck it on the head with one finger, or plucked 
some feathers from it: if the Quail, in defending itself, 
did not pass the limits of the circle, its master won the 
wager; but if, in its fury, it transgressed the bounds, its 
antagonist was declared victor. 
The Chinese use this bird, it is said, whose body is very 
hot, to warm their hands in cold weather; and among the 
French, “ Chaud comme un caille — warm as a Quail,” 
is a proverb. 
Quails, where they can he found, afford good practice 
to the young shooter: they fly straight, and seldom 
far; and thus many shots may be obtained with little 
difficulty. 
The length of the Quail is seven inches and a half, 
breadth fourteen; bill dusky; the feathers of the head, 
neck, and back, are a mixture of a brown ash-colour and 
black; the crown of the head divided by a whitish yellow 
line, beginning at the bill, and running along the hind 
part of the neck to the back; above each eye is another 
similar coloured streak; a dark line passes from each 
corner of the bill, forming a kind of gorget above the 
breast; the chin, throat, belly, thighs, and vent, dirty yel- 
lowish white; the scapular feathers, and those of the back, 
are marked in their middles with a long light yellow 
streak, and on their sides with ferruginous and black bars; 
the coverts of their wings are reddish browm, elegantly 
barred with paler lines, bounded on each side with black; 
the quills are lightish brown, with small rust-coloured 
bands on the exterior edges of the feathers; the breast is 
of a pale rust-colour, spotted with black, and streaked 
with pale yellow; the tail consists of twelve short feathers, 
barred with black and very pale brownish red; the legs 
are pale brown. 
The female differs from the male in having no black 
spots on the fore part of the neck, breast and side feathers, 
and from the colours being less vivid. Some of them 
have a long spot of brown beneath the throat. 
DIRECTIONS FOR FISHING FOR PIKE. 
The Pike loves a still, shady, unfrequented water, and 
usually lies amongst or near weeds; such as flags, bul- 
rushes, candocks, reeds, or in the green fog that some- 
times covers standing waters, though he will sometimes shoot 
out into the clear stream. He is sometimes caught at the 
top and in the middle; and often, especially in cold wea- 
ther, at the bottom. 
Their time of spawning is about the end of February 
or the beginning of March; and chief season, from the 
end of May to the beginning of February. 
Pikes are called jacks till they become twenty-four 
inches long. 
The baits for Pike are a small trout, frogs, the loach 
and miller’s-thumb; the head end of an eel, with the skin 
taken off below the fins; a small jack; a lob-worm; and in 
winter, the fat of bacon. And notwithstanding what 
Walton and others say against baiting with a perch, it is 
confidently asserted, that Pikes have been taken with a 
