30

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONJ.

which it is perhaps their destiny to be soon aroused by the dogof the sportsman and shot dead by his gun. It is to he sup-posed, however, that the great majority of the quails thatthus arrive from Africa escape both net and gun, andfinding their way into the interior of the land, disperse inevery direction,, build their nests, after the fashion ofpartridges, of which they are a diminutive variety, reartheir young, and then, in the ensuing month of October,repair with their families to effect their return to Africa ,from amongst the same juniper bushes which first shelteredthem on their arrival in spring.

One evening, in the last week of October, shooting quailswith Prince F. Colonna, in the royal quail preserve ofPortici , an extent of juniper bushes, I no sooner fired oneshot, than a cloud of countless thousands of quails simul-taneously arose, with the noise of a whirlwind, and straightdarting over the sea towards the south, speedily disappeared.It is evident that they had assembled on that spot for thepurpose of simultaneous migration. Snipes and woodcocksare necessarily far .more abundant in Italy, Spain, and Por-tugal , than ever in England. The reason is, that they breedin the northern parts of Poland, Siberia, and Lapland ,whence on the approach of winter they migrate southward.Germany, England, or France , are not warm enough fortheir permanent winter quarters, so it is only as they areon their way to Italy or Spain , that they are induced to restthemselves for a few days in the woods of England or France .Very rarely is it that the severity of the Italian or Spanish winters forces these birds to take a wider range and seek morewarmth in Africa . They, consequently, stay in the formerplaces all the winter, and afford abundance of deliciousfood, as well as “ sport,” to the inhabitants. I shall delayspeaking of various modes of killing, or snaring many kindsof birds or beasts, to a more fitting chapter of this work,