602 



G A L L I N I D JE. 



run on coming out of the shell, and are much sooner 

 able to provide for themselves than the you 

 partridges are. To such of them as happen to be 

 produced on a strong argillaceous soil, drought is very 

 unfavourable and they are very apt to die in con- 

 sequence of getting entangled in the fissures. The 

 mother continues by them till the autumnal migration, 

 at which period solitary quails are seldom met with ; 

 but, though living in small flocks of four or five, when 

 started they disperse in different directions, and 

 quickly reassemble near the spot from which they 

 were roused. The young utter a feeble and plaintive 

 cry when they wish to flock together. That of the 

 adults is more harsh and grating, and the males are 

 readily decoyed by the quail-pipe, with which the 

 fowler imitates the call of the female. From the 

 pugnacious dispositions of the males, they were ex- 

 hibited by the Athenians and Romans, in regular 

 combats ; and in China, Sumatra, and some districts 

 of Italy, the practice of quail fighting is still cherished. 

 As quails are reckoned very delicate eating, and are 

 capable of receiving a considerable quantity of fat, 

 they are killed in great numbers for the table ; but 

 they will not breed in a domesticated state. 



Chinese Quail. This species is of course 

 abundant in the country after which it is named ; 

 but it is not confined to that country, but ranges 

 pretty extensively over the Philippines, and the other 

 islands to the eastward of China. It is a very small 

 species, not above four inches and a half in length ; 

 but it is a pretty little bird, easily tamed, and the 

 Chinese are reported to make use of it for the pur- 

 pose of warming their hands, and likewise rear it for 

 fighting. The colours are : upper parts of the body 

 brown, sprinkled with black spots, and white lines, 

 throat black, arches on the neck white, the middle of 

 the belly chestnut. 



New Holland Quail. About seven inches in 

 length. Upper part clouded chestnut streaked with 

 black, and with white shafts to the feathers, under 

 part reddish ash, with black crescent spots placed 

 cross-wise. 



There are numerous other species or varieties 

 described by authors or preserved in museums ; but 

 it does not appear that they have any marked 

 cnaracters in which they differ much from the com- 

 mon species. 



HEMIPODIUS. As already mentioned, these birds 

 differ structurally from the quails in being entirely 

 without hind toes. They are in general inhabitants 

 of dry and sandy places, in running upon which the 

 hind toe would be an incumbrance to them rather 

 than any thing else ; and hence we find that in all 

 birds which inhabit sand}' places the hind toe is either 

 wanting, or merely rudimental. These birds are 

 little known, because they have no European 

 type, and also because they frequent those parts of 

 foreign countries which Europeans visit the least. 

 They appear to be altogether confined to the southern 

 and eastern world, and to have a locality in that 

 direction more remote from Europe than any other 

 of the gallinidae. Among them may be mentioned 

 the fighting quail of Java, which the inhabitants of 

 that country engage in gambling battles, as was done 

 with game cocks in barbarous times and places of the 

 western world. We must not, however, wonder at 

 the Javanese for being so deeply interested in the 

 issue of a battle between those comparatively small 



birds ; because, among the natives of that country 

 nothing is more common than for a man to stake first 

 all his property, and then the freedom of his wife and 

 children, upon the issue of a duel between two black 

 beetles, whose battle takes place in a little chip box. 



The Heteroclyte (Syrrhaptes) may be considered 

 as forming the last of this division of the order ; 

 and, indeed, it is not very easy to find out its proper 

 place in the system, as it is not, strictly speaking, 

 either a quail or a grouse, though, according to the 

 description, it partakes of the characters of both. 

 There is but one species, which inhabits the exten- 

 sive sandy plains of central Asia, to the southward of 

 the lake of Baikal ; and for the knowledge of it 

 naturalists are indebted to Professor Pallas. And as 

 for its habits we know very little of them, excepting 

 that it lives in very bare and desolate pastures, and 

 must, from its structure, depend much more on its 

 wings than on its feet in searching for its food ; and 

 this peculiarity takes it not only out of the properly 

 established groups of partridges, grouse, and quails, 

 but out of the order of Gallinidce altogether, with 

 which, however, they may use the wing in perching, 

 in migrating, or for other purposes ; without almost 

 one exception they make use of the foot in searching 

 for their food. The feet of this bird are peculiar : the 

 tarsi are very short, and so are the toes, and they are 

 completely feathered, so as to have the appearance 

 more of a defence against extreme heat or extreme 

 cold than any thing else. The wings are much 

 longer than in most of the order ; and they are dif- 

 ferently formed, being adapted for long flight and 

 ready turning when in the air, as the first quill is the 

 longest. The two middle feathers of the tail are 

 also considerably produced. 



The generic characters are : the bill short, slender, 

 and conical ; the upper mandible slightly arched, 

 with a channel on each side of the culmen, and the 

 nostrils basal and lateral, and covered with the 

 feathers of the front. The feet with only three toes, 

 all to the front, united by membrane almost as far 

 as the claws ; the tail-feathers increase in length in 

 regular stages from the sides, except the two middle 

 ones, which are elongated and very narrow. 



Pallas' heteroclite (Hetcroclitus turtaceus of Vieil- 

 lot) is the only known species. It is yellowish ash 

 on the upper part, with black margins to the feathers, 

 and a number of crescent spots of black along the 

 back. The top of the head is marked by a line of 

 similar spots ; the sides of the neck are orange yel- 

 low, of which the tint is brighter on the throat. The 

 coverts of the wings have purple red on the tips ; 

 and the quills are black, with orange yellow on the 

 margins of the webs. The tail-feathers are yellowish 

 ash, with white tips, except the two produced ones, 

 which are black. The belly is yellowish ash, and the 

 rest of the under part whitish, the former bordered 

 with a large band of black. The bill is yellowish, 

 and the claws black. The length of the male bird 

 is about a foot. The female differs little in size or 

 in markings, but is very easily distinguished from the 

 other sex by wanting the produced tail-feathers 

 which form so peculiar a character in the male. 



The Tartars call this bird Tsadlscha ; and describe 

 it as being rare, or, at all events, rarely seen. They 

 are wild, and the people can kill them only with 

 their arrows ; and as they inhabit the wild and bare 

 places, where there is no pasturage, and little other 



