id="Page_23" class="x-ebookmaker-pageno" title="[23]"/> the little ones afloat and obliged to exert their own powers. Re-appearing at a little distance, she entices them towards her, and thus they at once become good swimmers.

Before concluding, I will relate an instance of the sagacity often displayed by the tame or domestic duck. It is told by a gentleman named Mr. Saul:—

"I have now a fine duck which was hatched under a hen, there being seven young ones produced at the time. When these ducks were about ten days old, five of them were taken away from beneath the hen by the rats, during the nighttime, the rats sucking them to death and leaving the body perfect. My duck, which escaped this danger, now alarms all the other ducks and the fowls in the most extraordinary manner, as soon as rats appear in the building in which they are confined, whether it be in the night or the morning. I was awakened by this duck about midnight, and as I feared the rats were making an attack, I got up immediately, went to the building, and found the ducks uninjured. I then returned to bed, supposing the rats had retreated. To my surprise, next morning, I found that two young ducks had been taken from beneath a hen and sucked to death, at a very short distance from where the older duck was sitting. On this account, I got a young rat dog, and kept it in the building, and when the rats approach, the duck will rouse the dog from sleep, and as soon as the dog starts up, the duck resettles herself."

THE QUAIL.

THE QUAIL.

The quail is the smallest of the poultry tribe, and is a pretty little bird, something like a partridge, but not so large. I dare say you have sometimes seen quails alive in a poulterer's shop, where they are often displayed in long narrow cages, and are sadly crowded together. The quail is a migratory bird, except in those countries blessed with an equable temperature, such as Italy, Portugal, etc., where it is to be found in all seasons. In warm weather the quail visits our island, but nearly all those sold in London are brought from France, where they are caught in hundreds by means of a quail-pipe as it is called. This is a little instrument which imitates the cry or call of the quail so successfully that the bird is deceived, and, following the note, is easily ensnared. Africa is the head-quarters of quails in the winter, but in the summer they come in vast flocks and take up their abode in Europe and Asia. In the Crimea and Egypt they are caught in immense numbers whilst exhausted by their long flight. We are told in Stade's Travels in Turkey, that, "near Constantinople in the migrating season, the sun is often nearly obscured by the prodigious flights of quails, which alight on the coasts of the Black Sea, near the Bosphorus, and are caught by means of nets spread on high poles, planted along the cliff, some yards from its edge, against which the birds, exhausted by their passage over the sea, strike themselves and fall." The Arabs also catch quails by thousands in nets, when they visit Egypt, about harvest time. The observations of modern travellers have confirmed in a very interesting manner the account given us of quails in the Bible. Do not you remember reading of the multitude of quails that were sent by God as food for the children of Israel whilst wandering in the desert, when they grew tired of the sweet manna God had rained upon them from heaven, and desired flesh? "They gathered the quails," we are told, in great quantities, "and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp."—Numbers xi. 32. This was done in order to dry them, and this method of preserving not only quails, but other flesh and fish, is still followed by the Arabs. There is one particular island off the coast of Egypt where myriads of quails are caught, and, being stripped of their feathers, are dried in the burning sand for about a quarter of an hour, after which they are sold for as little as a penny a pound. The crews of those vessels which in that season lie in the adjacent harbour, have no other food allowed them. The quails, when migrating, fly so near the ground that they are very easily knocked down and secured. The nest of the quail is very simple. It consists merely of a few dried sticks in a wheat-field, and contains from twelve to eighteen pretty little green and brown eggs. The quail itself is very prettily coloured with black, chestnut, yellow, and white, and the males have a black collar round their throats. The old Romans would not eat the flesh of the quail, because it feeds on the grains of a poisonous plant. But we moderns are not so scrupulous, and find it very delicious food. I am sorry to tell you this little bird is so fond of fighting that there was an old proverb, "as quarrelsome as quails in a cage." And the Greeks and Romans kept quails on purpose to see them fight, as some people did formerly (I hope not now), game-cocks. Even to this day this is the custom in India and China.

I always like to conclude with a pretty story for you if I can, but I can find nothing likely to amuse you about the quail, except the following account of the Virginian quail, related by a gentleman residing in Canada. He "happened to have above a hundred at one period alive, and took much pleasure in the evening, watching their motions where they were confined. As it grew dusk, the birds formed themselves into coveys or parties of twelve or fifteen in a circle, the heads out and tails clustered in the centre. One bird always stood guard to each party, and remained perfectly stationary for half an hour, when, a particular cluck being given, another sentinel immediately took his place, and relieved him with as much regularity as any garrison could boast. It became a matter of further curiosity to observe how they would meet the extra duty occasioned by the havoc of the cook. For this also a remedy was found, and the gentleman remarked with admiration that, as their number decreased, the period of watch was extended from a half to a whole hour, in the same form, and with unfailing regularity."

THE ROBIN REDBREAST.

THE ROBIN REDBREAST.

Every little boy and girl well knows this pretty little bird. His bright eyes and rosy breast delight us even before we hear his lovely song. And do you not remember that when the babes in the wood were left alone, to die, by that cruel robber, after wandering about till they were so weary that they lay down and slept the sleep of death, it was the Robin Redbreast who "painfully did cover them with leaves." One would think the robin must be very fond of little boys and girls. One thing I am sure of, and that is that they love him very dearly, that they delight in the very sound of his name, that they scatter crumbs upon the window sill for him in winter, and that they would not disturb his nest for all the world.

Robins are not very often to be seen in the summer, for they fly far into the depths of woods and lonely places to rear