QUAIL (שְׂלָו, H8513, quail all Eng. VSS). Although the origin of the name is uncertain (possibly the bird’s liquid note, repeated several times, is reflected in the ‘L’ of the name), there is full agreement about this tr., and no other bird fits the Biblical narrative (Exod 16:13; Num 11:31, 32; Ps 105:40). This requires (a) a clean bird and (b) one that passed in great numbers. This miraculous supply to the traveling Israelites is mentioned on two specific occasions; first in the Wilderness of Sin, in the SW of the Sinai Peninsula, some six weeks after leaving Egypt; second at Kibroth-hattaavah, not far away, a year later. This is another example of natural resources being used by God, the miraculous element being in the precise timing of the supply. Although such concentrated flocks may have been exceptional, the quail must have passed across the Sinai area twice a year, and it is reasonable to assume that they were taken and eaten more or less regularly.

Quail are almost the smallest game birds and the only ones that truly migrate. The best known is the Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) of Europe and Asia. It is only seven inches long, mottled brown and much like a miniature partridge. Like many of its relatives, it is more often heard than seen, the call being made as much by night as by day. These birds breed over most of Europe and in W Asia. In autumn they migrate toward N Africa, many of them crossing the route of the Exodus, and do so again on their return journey in spring. There is some difficulty about the tr. of Numbers 11:31—KJV, “two cubits high upon the face of the earth” implies that they were piled to that height, whereas RSV “about two cubits above the face of the earth” suggests that they were flying a few ft. from the ground, which is preferred. The Douay VS trs. “they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.”

Although strong fliers over short distances, quails need help from the wind for long migration flights and the narrative says that they came in with the wind. An unfavorable change of wind can bring them to the ground and make them easy prey for man. Various estimates have been made about the numbers taken in these incidents, and one researcher has suggested that the Israelites killed some nine million. This could be a gross over-estimate, but there is recent evidence that such a figure is not entirely fanciful. Heavy exploitation of migratory quail took place throughout the 19th and well into the 20th centuries. For many years, Egypt exported over two million a year; in 1920, a peak of three million was reached. This was far more than the quail population could stand and mass migration soon ceased.

Bibliography A. Parmelee, All the Birds of the Bible (1959), 76; O. L. Austin, Birds of the World (1961), 95.