Having spoken of the emigration of these birds over sea and land, I cannot allow myself to defer¹ mentioning some other birds of smaller size, which have the same natural instinct: although in the case of those which I have already mentioned, their very size and strength would almost seem to invite them to such habits. The quail², which always arrives among us before the crane, is a small bird, which more commonly keeps to the ground than flies aloft. These birds fly in a similar manner to those I have already spoken of, and not without considerable danger to mariners³, when they come near the surface of the earth: for it often happens that they settle on the sails of a ship, and that, too, always in the night, in such numbers that the vessel⁴ often sinks. These birds pursue their course along a tract⁵ of country with certain resting-places. When the south wind is blowing, they will not fly, as that wind is always humid, and apt to weigh them down, the body being so light, and their strength so very limited: and frequently we hear them make a murmuring noise as they fly, it being extorted⁶ from them by fatigue⁷. For this reason they take to flight when the north wind is blowing, having the ortygometra[174] for their leader. The first of them that approaches the earth is generally snapped up by the hawk⁸. When they are about to return from these parts, they always invite other birds to join their company, and the glottis, otus, and cychramus, yielding to their persuasions⁹, take their departure along with them.