Quails

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Turnix \Tur"nix\, n. [NL., fr. L. coturnix a quail.] (Zool.)
     Any one of numerous species of birds belonging to {Turnix} or
     {Hemipodius} and allied genera of the family {Turnicidae}.
     These birds resemble quails and partridges in general
     appearance and in some of their habits, but differ in
     important anatomical characteristics. The hind toe is usually


     lacking. They are found in Asia, Africa, Southern Europe, the
     East Indian Islands, and esp. in Australia and adjacent
     islands, where they are called {quails} (see {Quail}, n.,
     3.). See {Turnicimorphae}.
     [1913 Webster]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Quails
     The Israelites were twice relieved in their privation by a
     miraculous supply of quails, (1) in the wilderness of Sin (Ex.
     16:13), and (2) again at Kibroth-hattaavah (q.v.), Num. 11:31.
     God "rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as
     the sand of the sea" (Ps. 78:27). The words in Num. 11:31,
     according to the Authorized Version, appear to denote that the
     quails lay one above another to the thickness of two cubits
     above the ground. The Revised Version, however, reads, "about
     two cubits above the face of the earth", i.e., the quails flew
     at this height, and were easily killed or caught by the hand.
     Being thus secured in vast numbers by the people, they "spread
     them all abroad" (11:32) in order to salt and dry them.
     
       These birds (the Coturnix vulgaris of naturalists) are found
     in countless numbers on the shores of the Mediterranean, and
     their annual migration is an event causing great excitement.