familiar, with the long cloth-covered cages, with a feeding-
trough in front, exposed in the shops of the principal poulterers.
The greater portion- of these are males, which; are
the first to arrive, and advantage is taken of this circuihstance
fey the bird-catchers, who decoy hundreds into their nets fey
imitating the call-note.of the female. I t has. been stated that
in the small island of Capri in the bay of Naples, 160,000 have
been netted in a single season, and even larger numbers are
on record. Qn their first arrival they seem much fatigued,
and during their passage they have frequently been known
to rest upon sailing-vessels. Canon Tristram, in his ‘ Natural
History of the Bible,’ pp. 230-288, says that in Algeria, in
the month of April, he found the ground covered with Quails
for an extent of many, acres at daybreak, where am the
preceding afternoon there had not been one, and they-sfearcely
moved until almost trodden on ; and in Palestine he caught
several with his hand ; one being actually crushed, h y his
horse’s foot. The Hebrew name “ selav ”—in Arabic “ salwa”
fr-from a root signifying.“ to foe' fatp i is very descriptive, of
the round, plump form and fat flesh of the Quail, f Canon
Tristram considers, th a t the period at which-the Quails were
brought to the camp of the Israelites was on their northern
migration from Africa in April, when, according to thein%ell-
known instinct,, they would follow up the coast' of the Red-Sea
till they came'to its bifurcation with the Sinaitic Peninsula,
and then, with a favouring wind,'wouldieroski at th e narrow
part,, resting near the shore- before proceeding;
I t has been, stated by many writers, th a t the male Quail is
polygamous, and at times perhaps heunaybe.so j buty seeing
that Quails in early summer are'usually found in pairs, and
that two adult birds are generally found in attendance otf the
young brood, it appears probable th a t he* is monOgamous.*
He is exceedingly pugnacious with regard' t ^ ^ t h |f s of^Bis
own sex ; and also remarkably amorous, whence th e ^ ^ n c h
proverbial expression, “ ChcmeL ^ which^has
nothing whatever *to do with any supposed"' stimulating Iffe-
* Such is th e ,Sre^inctly expressed opinidn-.-of, such' practical; observers as
Thompson, Macgillivray, Gould; and of many living.authorities. J
perties possessed by the flesh of the bird. . On arrival, the
shrill triple note óf thé male soon makes itself heard in the
evenings, and in this country is onomatopoetically rendered
by the words “ wet-my-dips whilst to the German peasant
it.says “ Buck’ den Ruck ” (Bend your hack). In the south
of France it is rendered by *.* J ’ai du blé, j ’ai pas de sâ ;(sac),”
or in Provence hy “ Tres (trois) per fin, tres per un.”: Every
one who has been in Spain,' where, ip spring, the caged
males “ sing ” all day, and nearly all night long, mustibe
familiar—perhaps too much so—with the castanet-like
“ click-clic-lic ” which perhaps led to the invention I of
that instrument .of music, and obtained for the bird, thë
scientific name of dgêtyUsongns. Its call is, howeyer,- not
strictly I .dactylic, the emphasis»:; being upon - the second
syllable. In June in this country,; but earlier on the
Continent, th e ; female ’ scrape, JS out*1 a small cavity .on the
ground, into which she collects a fe.wiyb|ll-of dry grass,
straw, or. clover stalks ; she lays from;,seven .to twelve
eggs ; nesting among wheàt .generàlly, but sometimes in a
piece of clover or grass. The eggs are of a yellowish;or dull
orange-coloured white, blotched or speckled with umber-brown,
méasuring 1*1 by ’9= in..4S8ppon these« shè' sits about, three
wèeks ; the1 young ' are abler,"to follow h e r Soon after they are
excluded from th e -tf& M u L lean* ip -/feed; grain,
insects, and. green leaves. -Two broods, ÊÊÛÉjÊÊÊËMusfohey. are
called, are sometimes'reared in the season, Many are found,
and killed in wheat ' stubbles by Partridge-shooters fjn~.the
montfeef: September ; they fly quick, but generally straight
and lowland- are difficult to raise a second- time when they
have been qfe.ce. flushed and alarmed. The greater portion
leave this, country in October;*'-:
The food' of-the Quail, judging -from about thirty examples-
shot during winter and yearly spring, èbnsists, according fb
Thompson^of'fohe" seeds- of such, weeds as plantain, persi-
caria, dock, wild vetch, and chickweed ; no. less than 8,500
seeds of the latter hgving been found in the »crop cbf a single
bird. Another contained remains of eleven of the nutritious
slug Lima$- agrestis ; and in May the crop of another was
, : i oe n i , * ’ j