Quail
It may be doubted whether any game bird has so extensive a geographical as the so-called common quail range (Coturnix communis). The red grouse is Henry Slaunard QUAIL. confined to the British Islands; the grey partridge is dispersed over Europe eastward to the Altai mountains, beyond which it is replaced by an allied species, but is not met with south of the Mediterranean, notwithstanding Malherbe's statement to the contrary. The quail, on the other hand, is to be found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in all of which continents, or parts thereof, it is well known either as a resident or a regular migrant, while of late years it has been introduced into parts of the United States, as well as into New Zealand, so that it may be regarded as wellnigh cosmopolitan in its distribution. Sportsmen on both shores of the Mediterranean look eagerly for its appearance in spring on its northward journey to its breeding haunts, and again in autumn on the southward passage to its winter quarters. At both these seasons an enormous toll is taken of the passing flocks. On the Spanish side of the Straits of [PUNTING AND PUNTS Gibraltar, says Colonel Irby, the chief vernal migration of the quail is during March and April, whilst the autumnal passage takes place chiefly during the latter half of September, at which time the numbers which arrive are sometimes almost incredible. "Though not strictly marsh-birds," says Mr. Abel Chapman (Wild Spain, p. 419), "yet quails at times abound among the moist rushy prairies both of Spain and Portugal, and hardly a hillock of drier ground or patch of maize stubble but will yield a brace or two." In such situations Mr. Chapman has shot 27½ couples in less than an hour, and as many as 52 brace in a day-a bag which he believes has been, and certainly might be, largely exceeded.
From Algeria to Sardinia and Corsica, and from Tunis to Malta, Sicily, and Southern Italy, vast numbers cross over, and have to run a blockade, not only of the gunners who are expectantly awaiting them, but of fowlers who make use of nets to intercept the migratory flocks, and in this way capture thousands on their arrival. a 66 66 In his admirable History of Fowling (1907), the Rev. H. A. Macpherson has included a chapter on Quail-catching in Italy," and to this the reader may be referred for a description of the different kinds of nets employed for the purpose, and other details of interest in connection with this subject. In a succeeding chapter he deals with quail-catching in other parts of Europe, as in France (particularly in the neighbourhood of Marseilles, whence large consignments of live birds are forwarded to Paris and London), Germany,