Egypt Bans Bird Imports to Stop Flu

In addition to banning the import of all live birds and tightening up quarantine controls at airports, the government has also cancelled the annual bird-hunting season to minimize contact between people and the migrant birds.

Ups! That's a hundred or so street vendors in Cairo who doesn't get the income from cooking quail at the sidewalks this season. The small birds are caught by nets on the coast of Sinai. Older people are recalling how Alexandria and Port Said was sometimes invaded by the little birds; apparently the men would net the birds as they were flying by the sidewalk cafeterias they were sitting in.

And yes indeed, it was the quail that according to the Bible and the Quran alleviated the hunger of the Israelites in Sinai:

The Israelites began to complain of deteriorating conditions, and God provided them with a steady diet of manna and quail. (Exodus 16:13-14)

O ye children of Israel! We delivered you from your enemy, and we made a covenant with you on the right side of Mount Sinai, and we sent down to you manna and quails, saying: “Eat of the good things we have provided for your sustenance, but commit no excess therein, lest My Wrath should justly descend on you: and those on whom descends My Wrath do perish indeed.” (Sura 20:80-81)