102 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



dozen ; and after leaving seven dozen at the Duke 

 of Devonshire's, at Chatsworth, continued his route 

 across the kingdom to Holyhead, and delivered 

 seventeen dozen alive in Dublin, having lost only 

 three dozen, though they were by necessity closely 

 crowded in baskets. 



We do not find that ruffs are ever made to exhibit 

 their pugnacious disposition by way of amusement, 

 as some other polygamous birds are, though it 

 would appear they might be thus exhibited. We 

 are told that Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, di- 

 rected that quails should be made to fight in 

 the presence of the youths of the state, with a view 

 to inflame their courage. The Romans, it would 

 appear, held quail-fighting in still higher estimation, 

 as we may infer from the circumstance of Augustus 

 punishing a prefect of Egypt with death for buying 

 and bringing to table a quail which had acquired 

 celebrity by its victories. Even at present this sort 

 of amusement is common in some cities of Italy, and 

 still more among the Chinese. In Italy they give 

 two quails high feeding, and then place them oppo- 

 site each other, at the ends of a long table, and throw 

 between them a few grains of millet seed, as a ground 

 of quarrel. At first they show a threatening aspect, 

 and then rush on with great impetuosity, striking 

 with their bills, erecting their heads, and rising upon 

 their spurs, till one is forced to yield. Formerly, 

 combats were performed between a quail and a man, 

 the bird being put into a large box and set in the 

 middle of a circle traced on the floor. The man 

 commenced the assault by striking it on the head 

 with his finger, or plucking out some of its feathers ; 

 and if the quail in defending itself did not pass the 

 limits of the circle, its master gained the wager that 

 had been previously laid. If, again, through the fury 

 of passion, it transgressed upon the space beyond 



