Quail (Selav)

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Quail and Quail Eggs
This is generally believed to have been the common quail, the coturnix vulgaris. It migrates, but is so tired when it arrives at its destination that it is easily captured. They are still called salwah by the Arabs. Scripture speaks of their being brought with the wind, and this agrees with their habits; they do not seem to be able to fly against the wind, and therefore wait for a favorable breeze. They were twice provided in abundance for the Israelites. The statement about the birds being “two cubits high upon [or above] the face of the earth” (Num. 11:3131And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. (Numbers 11:31)) doubtless refers to the height they flew when tired; and this corresponds with the way in which they are still caught, namely, by a number of persons enclosing them in a ring and gradually drawing closer to the center, when the birds would be crowded together in their endeavor to escape. Thousands have been caught in a day in modern times (Ex. 16:1313And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. (Exodus 16:13); Num. 11:31-3231And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. 32And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. (Numbers 11:31‑32); Psa. 105:4040The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. (Psalm 105:40)).