Difference between revisions of "Quail"

<p> '''''Celaw''''' . The Arabic name is similar, which identifies the quail as meant. Twice miraculously supplied to [[Israel]] (&nbsp;Exodus 16:13; &nbsp;Numbers 11:31-32). &nbsp;Psalms 105:40 connects the quail with the '''''Manna''''' , and therefore refers to &nbsp;Exodus 16:13, the first sending of quails, the psalm moreover referring to God's acts of grace. &nbsp;Psalms 78:27; &nbsp;Psalms 78:31, refers to the second sending of quails (Numbers 11) in chastisement (&nbsp;Psalms 106:14-15). The S.E. wind blew them from the Elanitic gulf of the Red Sea. [[Translated]] "threw them over the camp ... about two cubits above the face of the ground." Wearied with their long flight they flew breast high, and were easily secured by the Israelites. </p> <p> They habitually fly low, and with the wind. The least gatherer got ten homers' ''(The Largest Hebrew [[Measure]] Of Quantity)'' full; and "they spread them all abroad for themselves" to salt and dry (Herodotus ii. 77). "Ere the flesh was consumed" ''(So Hebrew)'' God's wrath smote them. [[Eating]] birds' flesh continually, after long abstinence from flesh, a whole month greedily, in a hot climate predisposed them by surfeit to sickness; God miraculously intensified this into a plague, and the place became Kibroth Hattaavah, "the graves of lust." (See [[Kibroth Hattaavah]]  The red legged crane's flesh is nauseous, and is not therefore likely to be meant. "At even" the quails began to arrive; so Tristram noticed their arrival from the S. at night in northern [[Algeria]] two successive years. Ornithologists designate the quail the '''''Coturnix Dactylisonans''''' ''(From Its [[Shrill]] Piping Cry)'' . </p>

<p> ''''' kwāl ''''' ( שׂלו , <i> ''''' selāw ''''' </i> ; ὀρτυγομήτρα , <i> ''''' ortugomḗtra ''''' </i> ; Latin <i> Coturnix vulgaris </i> ): A game bird of the family <i> Coturnix </i> , closely related to "partridges" (which see). Quail and partridges are near relatives, the partridge a little larger and of brighter color. Quail are like the gray, brown and tan of earth. Their plumage is cut and penciled by markings, and their flesh juicy and delicate food. Their habits are very similar. They nest on the ground and brood on from 12 to 20 eggs. The quail are more friendly birds and live in the open, brooding along roads and around fields. They have a longer, fuller wing than the partridge and can make stronger flight. In Palestine they were migratory. They are first mentioned in &nbsp; Exodus 16:13 : "And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp." This describes a large flock in migration, so that they passed as a cloud. &nbsp; Numbers 11:31-33 : "And there went forth a wind from Yahweh, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp"; compare &nbsp; Psalm 78:26-30 : </p> <p> "He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; </p> <p> And by his power he guided the south wind. </p> <p> He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, </p> <p> And winged birds as the sand of the seas: </p> <p> And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, </p> <p> Round about their habitations. </p> <p> So they did eat, and were well filled; </p> <p> And he gave them their own desire." </p> <p> Again the birds are mentioned in migration. Those that fell around the camp and the bread that was sent from heaven are described in &nbsp;Psalm 105:39-42 . Commentators have had trouble with the above references. They cause the natural historian none - they are so in keeping with the location and the laws of Nature. First the Hebrew <i> ''''' selāw ''''' </i> means "to be fat." That would be precisely the condition of the quail after a winter of feeding in the South. The time was early spring, our April, and the quail were flocking from Africa and spreading in clouds - even to Europe. They were birds of earth, heavy feeders and of plump, full body. Migration was such an effort that when forced to cross a large body of water they always waited until the wind blew in the direction of their course, lest they tire and fall. Their average was about 16 birds to each nest. If half a brood escaped, they yet multiplied in such numbers as easily to form clouds in migration. Pliny writes of their coming into Italy in such numbers, and so exhausted with their long flight, that if they sighted a sailing vessel they settled upon it by hundreds and in such numbers as to sink it. Taking into consideration the diminutive vessels of that age and the myriads of birds, this does not appear incredible. Now compare these facts with the text. Israelites were encamped on the [[Sinai]] Peninsula. The birds were in migration. The quail followed the Red Sea until they reached the point of the peninsula where they selected the narrowest place, and when the wind was with them they crossed the water. Not far from the shore arose the smoke from the campfires of the Israelites. This bewildered them, and, weary from their journey, they began to settle in confused thousands over and around the camp. Then the Israelites arose and, with the ever-ready "throw sticks," killed a certain number for every soul of the camp and spread the bodies on the sand to dry, just as <i> [[Herodotus]] </i> (ii. 77) records that the [[Egyptians]] always had done (see Rawlinson, <i> Herodotus </i> , II, for an illustration of catching and drying quail). Nature and natural history can account for this incident, with no need to call in the miraculous. </p>