[ 2 73 1 
ftill continue to diflent from the opinion he main- 
tains. 
Though M. de BufFon hath difcufled this point 
very much at large, yet I find only the following 
fads or arguments to be new. 
He firfl cites the Memoirs of the Academy of 
Sciences*, for an account given by M. Godeheu of 
quails coming to the ifiand of Malta in the month 
of May, and leaving it in September. 
The firfl: anfwer to this obfervation is, that the 
ifiand of Malta is not only near to the coaft of 
Africa, but to feveral of the Mediterranean iflands ; 
it therefore amounts to no more than the flitting I 
have before taken notice of -f*. 
Monf. de BufFon fuppofes that a quail only quits 
one latitude for another, in order to meet with a 
perpetual crop on the ground. 
Now can it be fuppofed that there is that difference 
between the harvefi: on the coafi: of Africa, and that 
of the fmall quantity of grain which grows on the 
rocky ifiand of Malta, that it becomes inconvenient 
to the bird to flay in Africa as foon as May fets in j 
and neceffary, on the other hand, to continue in 
Malta from May till September. 
Monf. de Buffon then fuppofes that quails make 
their paffage in the night, as well as conceives them 
to be of a remarkably warm temperature %, and fays 
* Tom. III. p. 91 and 92. 
+ Both Monf. de Godeheu and M. de Buffon feem to conceive 
that the quail fhould fly in the fame dire&ion as the wind blows ; 
but birds on the wing from point to point, which are at a confi- 
derable diftance, fly againft the wind, as their plumage is other- 
wife ruffled. 
% As this is given for a reafon why the African quails migrat* 
Northward : Q. what is to become of the Icelandic quails dur- 
ing the fummer ? 
Vol. LXII. N n 
that 
