THE QUAIL 
“ The mortality amongst the birds thus carried from Africa to Europe 
is terrible, for less than 40 per cent survive the voyage, and the total 
captures of quails are amply sufficient to explain their decrease in Europe. 
“ The day can be foreseen, perhaps it is not far distant, when this species 
will have completely disappeared, unless international action at once 
prompts the enactment of the most energetic measures to put an end 
to a trade which is as immoral as it is scandalous ! ” 
Count Clary proceeds to give a detailed account of the laws which have 
already been enacted in various European countries for the protection 
of quails. To its lasting honour be it said, the Swiss Government was the 
first to attempt to bring about international co-operation with this object 
for, as long ago as 1896, after having first assured itself of the goodwill 
of Austria-Hungary, the Government of France was asked “if it would 
not consent, in the general interest, to put an absolute interdict on the 
unholy traffic in quails during the close season.’’ These negotiations, 
however, fell through. 
In the following year, 1897, a proposal was made to France by Germany 
that these two powers should make joint representations to Great Britain 
with a view to the protection of quails, by forbidding their importation 
and sale in all three countries during the close season for other game- 
birds. The British Foreign Office, however, declined to subscribe to the 
agreement. Various other negotiations between different countries have 
since taken place, and the present position in Europe appears to be this: 
In France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Switzerland the open season 
for quail shooting lasts from August 15 to October 15, and during the 
remaining ten months of the year, in the above - mentioned countries, 
it is not only illegal to shoot or capture these birds, but their importation 
from other countries during the same time is also strictly forbidden. 
In addition to this, the French have made the netting of quails by the 
natives of Algeria and Tunis illegal, and — ^so Count Clary informed me — this 
prohibition has put an end to this destructive industry in these territories. 
It now only remains for Great Britain, Belgium, and Italy to co- 
operate with France and those other powers which have already taken 
measures for the protection of quails, and if only such an international 
agreement could be brought about, these handsome little game-birds 
would not only be saved from extinction, but would in all probability in 
a few years’ time again become as plentiful as they once used to be, for 
they are very prolific if left unmolested during the nesting season. 
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