QUAIL

The quail proper is a bird of the eastern hemisphere. It is smaller than the American, or Virginia, ‘‘quail’’ (see Bos-wuite), and of variegated reddish-brown plumage, the most noteworthy markings being the buff or whitish stripes over its upper parts. The tail is short and thin, and the bill weak and undeveloped. History tells us that in ancient times the Israeli tes, wandering through the deserts, fed on quail—and still to this day they are so plentiful in Egypt that the people cannot consume fresh the numbers captured during the season for hunting them, and large quantities are salted down and dried in the sun for future use. At migration time, parts of the southern shores of the Mediterranean are almost covered with the birds, and they are netted in enormous numbers and shipped alive, by the steamer load, from Algiers.and Alexandria to Marseilles, to be thence conveyed to all parts of the Continent.