Today my son found an exhausted quail in the schoolyard. He took the bird in his hand. The bird was calm, then it spread its wings and flew away.
The quail is a bird from the family of the pheasants. It is wild migratory bird in our area. They migrate in the autumn from Africa to Europe, and the other way around in the spring. They fly at night, and because their wings are relatively small to carry their weight, they are very exhausted in the morning and are very easy to catch.
When the sons of Israel were in the desert, around 3200 years ago, a big flock of quails stopped near them and provided them some good meat.
Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. (Numbers 11, 31)
Ran Silberman 