Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-03
QUAIL IN FRANCE.
Effort to Prevent determination Of
Valuable Game Birds.

Paris Corr. New York Tribune,
Ouails are deservedly among the most
valued of the annual visitors of France.
Natives of the southern shores of the Med
iterranean, they have their hot. sandy
deserts to breed into temperate climate,
and reach this country in large hocks about
the middle of April or the beginning of May.
All through the spring the woods resound
with their quaint little cry, in which the
French peasant hears the words, 'Payee ties
dettes C'Pay your debts'D, and the English
WET my feet" Laying from nine to fifteen
eggs they rear their families as far north
as Britain, and then in the middle of Au-
gust prepare to return once more, reaching
France the second time at the opening of
the shooting season. They travel now in
immense focks, the sky being darkeneo by
clouds composed Of tens of thousands of
these little birds.
And these two regular yearly movements
of the quail have given rise to an important
industry in Europe. Every year. in the
Grecian archipelago in Egypt and Morocco,
fabulous numbers of the unfortunate little
creatures are either knocked down with
stick and killed. or are taken alive and
sent to the European markets, where
their flesh IS considered a great delicacy.
The dead birds are plucked, cleaned and
sailed, and then packed in cases for export.
The living birds are closely packed in curl
Gus fiat cages made to exclude the light in
order to prevent the birds from fighting,
and are then shipped in cargoes of from
10000 upward to the capitals of the CONT
nent. The smell from these cages is in
credible, and it is not surprising that the
mortality among the birds on the journey
is enormously high
It is in the land of the Pharaohs that
these nassacres assume the largest proper
tiens. AS the season of the first migration
of the quail approacheS-that is, in the end
Of March-the Egyptian government puts
up at auction and sells to the highest bid
ders different positions on the route to be
traversed by the birds Here, before the
return of the quail, little hutches are erect
ed Of about one foot in height. which are
covered with the leaves of the date palms
and contain each two entrances. On reach
ing the hot, burning sands of the Soudan
the quail, now plump little balls of fat after
their summer In the north, alight. weary
with their long fight and seek the shade of
the little green houses standing ready for
their occupation. In single day dealer
will thus take as many as 10000 birds, and,
the traffic Is carried on all along the
shores of the Mediterranean for the whole
period Of migration. millions of quail are
yearly captured alive.
In spite, however, Of their astonishing
fecundity, this wholesale slaughter Of the
birds began to produce an appreciate ef-
feet. and in France. as, indeed. in other
countries of Central Europe, II was noticed
that the fiocks were rapidly decreasing in
numbers. Unfortunately, too, the demand
in London more particularly-for the deli
cacy is as great in the spring in the au-
tumn, although the bird Is then thin and
Odt of condition. In order to meet this de-
mand the minister of the interior in 1878
authorized the import and sale of quail
throughout the breeding season. This de-
cision called forth an earnest protest from
the farmers, who valued the birds highly on
account Of the quantity of weed seeds and
noXious insects consumed by them, and
from sportsmen, who foresaw a still greater
diminution, if not, indeed, the utter extermi-
nation Of the game. Their efforts were.
however, fruitless and the immediate result
was merely development of the trade. To
prepare the spring birds for the table a
number of merchants in the neighborhood
of Paris undertook to fatten them artificial
ly, and, though the flesh after the process
lacked the delicate flavor Of the autumn
birds. they at once began to figure largely
in the menus of the fashionable hotels and
restaurants of the capitals.