13 FEBRUARY 1948, Page 18

More Quail

Plenty of evidence has reached me of the increasing number of quail seen in England during 1947; and I must believe that a good part of the credit belongs to the International Committee for Bird Preservation. They prevented the import of live quail into Britain during the breeding season and further limitation of the import has followed. Apropos, a correspondent of long memory writes: "When a boy at Oxford in the late 'seventies I used often to see shallow crates with canvas tops in the Oxford market containing over 200 live quail apiece," and adds: "Years ago as many as 50,000 quail used to be sent away from Cairo in one day." We may perhaps expect that the quail will become a regular breeding bird in Britain. International preservation—necessary for the saving of the migrants—advances satisfactorily in spite of great difficul- ties. Control of the markets is among the most successful methods.