C Ö T UM 1X COMMITS! S „
COTURNIX COMMUNIS.
Common Quail.
Tetrao cotumix, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 74.
Perdix cotumix, Lath. Ind. Ora., tom. ii. p. 651.
Cotumix communis, Bonn. Ency. Meth. Ora., part i. p. 217.
----------- dactylisonans, Meyer, Vog. Liev- u. Esthl., p. 197.
----------- vulgaris, Flera. Hist, of Brit. Anim., p. 45.
— -------- major, media et minor, Brehm, Yog. Deutschl., pp. 527, 528, 529, tab. 26. fig. 4.
Ortygion coturnix, Keys, et Bias. Wirbelth., Eur., p. 66.
H isto r ica l ly speaking the: Q u a i l is one o f th e very oldest known o f migratory birds, and is especially
interesting from more than one point o f view. It fed the Israelites o f old, as it now does the epicures of
London and Pans, was better known to Moses than to those who now regard it as a choice luxury for the
table, and its a r r iv a l was looked forward to with as much interest in the East nearly 4000 years ago as it is
a t the present moment ip Sicily, Italy, and elsewhere. I t migrates from south to north in April, and takes
the reverse course in August and September, crossing the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as regularly as
a planet pursues its course.
So much has been written on the history o f the Quail and the extent of its range over the globe, that
little o r nothing new remains to be said on the subject. Its range is vast indeed; for it not only inhabits
the whole o f Europe, but the greater part o f India, Russia, and, perhaps, China and Japan.
In Britain it is far less regular in its appearance than on the neighbouring continent, being plentiful in
some seasons and a t others but sparingly dispersed ; thus a t one period the corn-fields and stony elevations
almost ring with their “ whit, whit," while a t others the st illness o f evening is scarcely disturbed by their well-
known notes. O f the three kingdoms, Ireland is the one roost frequented by the Quail, the next England,
and lastly Scotland. The bird does not appear to evince a preference for any particular counties, and it is just
as likely that a pair or pairs may be found breeding in Cornwall as in the northern or any o f tin; intervening
English counties : it is the same in Scotland, for it may just as probably be met with on the Grampians as
in the Lowlands-; and it has been known to breed in the Outer Hebrides. In whatever locality it affects it is
ouly to be found in summer; if an example be seen a t the opposite season the circumstance must be regarded
as an unusual o n e : not so, however, in Ireland, for th ere many, whose migratory instinct would seem to be
in abeyance, remain during the winter, unless shot during frosts and sent over with Snipes and Plovers for
sale to the Ldndon markets, where I have frequently seen examples a t this period o f the year; and on
inquiring what part o f Ireland they were from have been told Tralee, a portion o f the country spoken o f by
Thompson as one in which Quails a re most abundant. I f a correct statistic account could be obtained of the
numbers shot in the British Islands, and o f the numbers brought to our markets alive from Egypt, Italy, and
other southern and eastern countries, I imagine we should be truly astonished. Latham stated, nearly forty
years ago, that the Quails came twice a year into the island o f Capri'in such vast numbers that the bishop
o f the island drew the chief part o f his revenue from them, and that ort the west coast o f Naples, within
the space o f four o r five miles, 100,000 had been taken in a day. Of the bird in a wild state in England,
I have myself taken toll from three bevies in one day, as near to London as the parish of Langley, and
within sight o f the Royal Castle o f Windsor; but the total number was fow as compared with the ten or
twelve brace a day killed by Mr. Newcomc at South Ferrv Fens, in Norfolk, as stated by Mr. Stevenson;
and I have known similar instances o f a like number having been procured by other sportsmen. In the
year 1870, Quails came to this country in unusually large numbers, spreading themselves far and wide
over England and Scotland, affording much sport to the pursuers of g ame; for the ground which is suited to
the Partridge is equally so to this diminutive but highly nutritive species.
Who better than a clergyman, especially when he is at the same time an excellent ornithologist, ought to
be able to settle the vexed question as to whether the “ selac " o f the Hebrews, with which they were so
miraculously fed in the wilderness, was o r was not the Quail ? Surety, then, no apology is necessary for the
insertion o f the following extract from my friend the Rev. H. B. Tristram’s ‘ Natural Historv o f the
Bib le’ :—
“ Ingenious commentators hare spared no pains in the attempt to prove the ‘ selav’ was not a Quad, but
some other creature they imagined more likely to be found in the desert. In spite o f all etymology, ami of
the distinct allusion in the Psalms to feathered fowl, some have suggested locusts, some flying fish .- oilier*