Quail

Mentioned in Ex. xvi. 11-13 and Num. xi. 31 (comp. Ps. lxxviii. 27, cv. 40) in connection with the miraculous feeding of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Quails pass over the Sinaitic Peninsula in vast numbers, migrating northward in spring and returning south in the autumn. They fly very low, are soon fatigued, and fall an easy prey. Yoma 75b enumerates four kinds of quail, including, besides the quail proper, the fieldfare, the partridge, and the thrush. The fatness of the quail likewise is alluded to.

Bibliography:

  * Tristram, Natural History of the Bible, p. 229;
  * Lewysohn, Zoologie des Talmuds, p. 210.



E. G. H. I. M. C.