Country Life
TIn: EXTINCTION OF THE QUAIL.
In further reference to the quail, which are caught in vast quantities on migration in Egypt, I find in a recently published classic on Egyptian birds that the numbers are even greater than I had thought. " In 1908, 1,208,000 birds were exported from Egypt—a figure which cannot represent one half of the birds caught in nets. In 1926 only 535,024 were exported. These figures speak for themselves, and demonstrate the slow estinetion,of a species due entirely to human agency and to satisfy the greed of the epicure." It is of good promise for the reform of this abuse that the book from which I quote (..Vicoll's Birds of Egypt : Hugh Rees, 30s.) was financed by the Egyptian Government, which has proved itself both wise and generOus in this department of natural history. Inci- dentally, the first of the two volumes has a masterly essay on some mysteries of migration. I know no book on birds more thoroughly worthy of a government's support. Its publica- tion suggests that a remedy for the evil may be found. A sympathetic Egyptian government, apart from any local prohibitions, might very well co-operate with British importers and with the British government, if it partakes )1 the wisdom of the Egyptian.
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