Fatigue / by A. Mosso ; translated by Margaret Drummond and W.B. Drummond.

  • Mosso, A. (Angelo), 1846-1910.
Date:
1915
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Fatigue / by A. Mosso ; translated by Margaret Drummond and W.B. Drummond. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ducks, but each one sets forth on its journey without regard to the others. When they have to struggle against a strong wind at sea, they persevere as long as they can ; then, when they are exhausted, they yield to its violence and end by falling senseless upon rocks or on the deck of some ship. Storms, accord- ing to Brehm,1 plunge them into such terror and confusion that, even after the squall has passed and the wind become favourable, they remain motionless for several days on the spot where they alighted, before summoning up resolution to continue their journey. If a squall does not overtake them, quails cross the Mediterranean without great fatigue, and it often happens that the sportsman finds no quails in a district where he expects them to be plentiful, owing to the fact that the first arrivals have continued their journey, whilst change in the weather has de- layed the others. I have never seen any of them after their arrival resume their flight in order to settle on one of the neighbouring hills. Brehm thus describes the arrival of the quails in Africa : “ By keeping watch at a point on the north coast of Africa during the time of the true migration of the quails, one can often be present at their arrival. A dark cloud is seen, low down, fluttering above the water ; it approaches rapidly, getting lower and lower all the time, so as finally to alight just at the extreme edge of the sea. It is the crowd of quails, nearly dead with fatigue. Just at first the poor creatures lie for some minutes as if stunned and incapable of motion ; but this state does 1 Brehm, Thierleben,Dritte Auflage, 1891, voi. v. p. 557.