after a residence of eleven months and nineteen days, and entered into the sterile desert, remembering the luxuries of Egypt and discontented with the manna, began again to feel a desire for animal food. Forgetful of that hand which had kindly led them through all the mazes of their journey, and which had promised to supply their wants in the manner that was most suitable for them, they lost confidence in Jehovah, and murmured against Moses. In anger the Lord listened, if we may so speak, to their clamour, and again sent, by means of a drifting wind, myriads of quails, turned out of their migratory course from the borders of the Red Sea. So great was the abundance, that for the space of a day's journey from the camp as a centre to a circumference, the ground was covered by these exhausted birds trampling and pressing upon each other to the height of two cubits; and "all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, they gathered the quails." After the Egyptian fashion they dried them, probably with a little salt, in the sun, as a store for future use. (Numbers xi. 31-2.) But a plague now broke out, to which numbers fell a sacrifice, and the place was called Kibroth-hattaavah.

Various opinions have been entertained as to the identity of the bird thus sent as a miraculous supply to the Israelites with the quail; but the trial, by the consent of ornithologists, lies between the katta, or sand-grouse, and the quail. With respect to the katta, so impressed was Hasselquist (the friend and pupil of Linnæus) with the astounding myriads of these birds in Syria, that he at once called it Tetrao Israelitarum, and in a letter to Linnæus, says :-" If natural history can afford any information as to the interpretation of the Bible, this bird is certainly the same with the quails of the Israelites; and they (the quails) would alone reward the toil of a journey to the banks of the Jordan. So great was my own personal delight on this discovery, that forgetting myself, I almost lost my life before I could obtain possession of a specimen." Subsequently

he observes, that about Whitsuntide the Arabs carry many thousands of them to Jerusalem for sale, which, as we are informed, is still the case.

After the breeding season, the kattas associate in vast flocks; and in the stony districts of the country beyond Jordan, they swarm in such multitudes that phalanx after phalanx arise, like clouds passing through the sky, and vanish in the distance. Burckhardt, who was astounded by their numbers, says: "The quantity of kattas here is beyond description. The whole plain seemed sometimes to rise; and far off in the air they are seen like large moving clouds." In the country to the east of the Dead Sea, and among the hilly districts of Edom, their numbers are incredibly excessive; and this is the case throughout Syria, especially, according to Russell, during the months of May and June, when thousands upon thousands are killed for food. Burckhardt is strongly of opinion that the katta and the quail, or selav, of the Israelites are identical.

For ourselves, we doubt the correctness of Buckhardt's opinions. We believe that the quail was the bird supplied to the Israelites. In the first place, during its migratory movements, the quail also flies in clouds, and the flocks cover whole districts. In the second place the quail is decidedly migratory, passing from Africa into Asia and Europe, while the katta, or sand-grouse, is only partially so, roaming from district to district of the same country. In the third place, the Arabic name of the sand-grouse is katta, or al chata (allowance being made for our mode of spelling such words), while that of the quail is selwai, or selwee, evidently the same word as selav; thus the name itself seems to be a confirmation. In the fourth place, the selav was not, as it would appear, unknown to the Israelites; it abounds in Egypt, and was at once recognized as among the table delicacies of a people whose recherché animal food chiefly consisted of feathered game. But the sand-grouse, a tenant of the sterile desert, would not have been so familiar to the wander

ing host; and, besides, its flesh is dry and dark-coloured, whereas, as we all know, that of the quail is delicious. For these reasons. we incline decidedly to the quail.

We have stated that the quail is essentially a migratory bird. Now the wind is said to have brought the flocks into the valley of Sin; therefore it is not unreasonable to suppose that the birds were driven onwards from Upper Egypt and the western borders of the Red Sea generally, by the exertion of crossing which they became so exhausted as to fall in myriads round the encampments of the Israelites. Nor is it improbable that they were baffled by opposing currents, and thereby prevented from continuing their northern migratory course. The same observations apply to the second miracle; in the account of which it is expressly stated that the birds were "brought from the sea," having crossed it from the western borders. Still, the supply was no less miraculous. The flock came at the time foretold, and passed directly over the Hebrew camp.

Although the quail is migratory, and traverses vast districts, yet its wings are by no means fitted (as are those of the hawk and swallow) for long-sustained flight. It travels by stages, longer or shorter, according to circumstances, and the direction of the wind, by the supporting power of which it is much assisted. At the same time, it would appear that this species, if not stationary, is only partially migratory in India; but this is not the case in western Asia, or Europe, generally.

Although in different countries stragglers remain behind, both at the epoch of the northward tide and southward reflux, yet the migratory movements of the quail are so decided as to have attracted notice from remote antiquity. Pliny, after stating that immense flocks, baffled by adverse winds, are often swept into the Mediterranean, adds, that they sometimes settle on vessels in such numbers as to cause their sinking from the overloading of the masts and