China,* India, the Cape of Good Hope, and England, and
must pronounce them, in spite1 of the extraordinary geogra--
phical range, to be one species, the differences between- the
specimens not being greater-than are found amongst individuals
from the same locality. The Indian bird has the
same cry of pickerwick, 6¥~peek-wheet-wheet, whi®l§ M.
Temminck. says, induced M. Meyer to give it the specific
appellation of dactylisonans.^f
A matter of considerable historical interestTis' associated
with this bird, as there is the-strongest ground for believing
that it. is the identical species, T<etrao Israelitarum, of whdS'e
instinct it pleased the Divinity to avail himself in supplying
the famishing Israelites with food in ‘the Wilderness.’. I Au-
thors have differed with respect to_jthe real nature iyof/tM§
food; Rudbeckj asserting that it was a flying jft.sk, and
Ludolph§ that it was a locust: but the 26th, 27th, 28th,
and 29th verses of the 78th Psalm, determine it to hafe
been a bird:— u He caused an east wind to blow in the
heaven: and by his power .he. brought in the south winds,
He rained flesh.also upon them as dust,, and featherei^-fowls
(fowl of wing) like as the sand of the. sea ; and*he let it fall
in the midst of their camp, round about their ^abitkiibns.
So they did eat, and were well-filled : for he gave them' their
own desire# |
Bochart^[ and Dr. Harris** state that the Hebrew word
used is Selav, in Arabic Selwee, o r Sdvai (a Quail), which
is constantly rendered by the Septuagint ogruyofArirgoi, a
large kind of Quail. Aristotle, indeed, calls the Rail (Ral- *
§* M. Temminck says our Quail is also found in--J apan.
•f* Pig. et Gal. tom. iii, p. 501.
t Ichthyol. Bibl.
§ Comment, ad Hist. JEthiop. p. 108.
|) See also Exodus xvi. 13, and Numbers xi. 31 anct 32.
If De Animalibus 8 . Scriptufae.
** Natural )History of the Bible, p. 317.
lus and ifoHygometra; but on the whole it is to be
inferred -from Bochart -that the Greeks used the word rather
to indicate the si^-.«afpthe ogryf, than as descriptive of a
different’ • bird ; - - an,d J=osep||g.|*1sConsiders b^rwyo^r^oc and
6gTU% ‘vsyn^y|Q.jE>us, and states that Quails abound on the
gulf of. the Red-Sea; * and^e- knotf that they, abound in
Egypt, Barbary,’.Asia Minor,, and a t certain seasons in Europe.
at the p^ekefitfdapbf*.
, - There-' is -another T i ^ ^ wjfefhnecti the bird- Jgf Scripture
with ihqr&pt4 i?ftix:0 0 ;lisonans, 'and thi^is- readily done by
the simple; fact ® i t i l | ^ f g ,the o% / s p ^ l ^ o f Quail that
-fpigrat'es in. we^Bav^.f not any satisfactory
Recount that any o th e # « ^ ^ ^ .b f ^Ma^iB jinigratory. Aris-
Jp tfe m?eh|||hs ||fi% a b it;- and Pliny states th ey sometimes
alight on ^esseisi in f l | Mediterranean, and sink them !
Belon founfdf®|ik^light in autumm’o^aivesseb bound from
- R h o f l e g ^ t / l6Xanidria ; they ^ |# l |a ^ i ||; f r ^ n # e north to
\|ilie,'south, and had whet^m their .craws'; & In the preceding I
spSng4 saihn^|rpm('»Zante to the M o ^ t v ^ f e j r flights of
Quailspgoing from the^^utii northwards. Buffon - relates I
that M. l^iommandaM Gbdelun saW Quails Constantly passing
Malta during Certain winds in May,; and repassing in
- .‘September; and that they flew b y ^ g ^ t/- Tournefort says
1 - th a t almost all the isles-<ff the Archipelago are covered with
ithem in certain times'-ofi.the year. In the-commencement of
autumn, such great quantities;.'are captured in the isle-of
: iiGapri, near Naples, as cm former, times? to -afford the bishop
(ith-C chief part 'of* his r^|enUe; and he was called in consequence
■ the B i s h o p # Quails. M. Temminck -says * that in
spring;?&uqh prodigious numbers of Quails alight' on- the
western scores of the-kingdom of Naples, about Nettuno,
• that one hundred thousand are taken in a day. They also
arrive in spring in similar numbers on th.e;^liores,of Provence,
* Lib. iii. cap. 1-.