Quails are migratory birds, generally arriving in this country betwixt the middle of August and the middle of September, and departing in April. They are greatly esteemed for the table; and are usually eaten roasted (without being drawn), and served on toast, in the same manner as woodcocks. So numerous are they, in many countries of the Continent, that they may be purchased, even by dozens, at a very low price. In some parts of Italy thousands of quails are caught in a day, at the periods of their migration. The Russians also take them in immense numbers, and, packing them in casks, send them for sale to Petersburgh and Moscow. We formerly imported great numbers of these birds alive from France. They were conveyed, by the stage coaches, in large square boxes, divided into five or six compartments one above another, and just high enough for the birds to stand upright, each box containing about a hundred quails. These boxes had wire in front, and each partition was furnished with a small trough for food. The object of this importation was solely for the table. So irritable is the disposition of the quail, that, whenever the males are kept together, they always fight. This propensity rendered them esteemed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, for the same purposes as game cocks are by many of the moderns. The fighting of quails is, at this day, a fashionable diversion with the Chinese, and in some parts of Italy. The ancients did not eat these birds, under a supposition that they were an unwholesome food. Quails are not so prolific as partridges. They seldom have more than six or seven eggs, which are of whitish colour marked with ragged rust-coloured spots. 169. _The BUSTARD_ (Otis tarda, Fig. 39), _the largest land bird which is produced in England, is distinguished by its plumage being waved and spotted, with black and dusky, and whitish beneath; and the bill being convex and strong, with a tuft of feathers on each side of the lower mandible._ _These birds are about four feet in length, and are found in small flocks on open plains of different countries of Europe, Asia, or Africa. They were formerly seen on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, and other parts of England; but, in consequence of the enclosures which have of late years been made, the breed is supposed to be nearly extinct in this country._ When these birds were more numerous than they now are, they were hunted by grey-hounds for amusement, and, as they run with great rapidity (seldom being known to rise on wing), the chase was sometimes very long. Their flesh has been compared to that of the turkey, and epicures on the Continent are stated to prefer the thigh of the bustard to most other kinds of game.