The Bustard-Quail 233 



sufficiently marked. The male is a very plain-plumaged 

 little fellow, but the female towers above him in size, and 

 has often a black throat or a rufous collar as a distinguishing 

 character. It must be observed, however, that some of the 

 Hemipodes scarcely differ in colour and markings, and 

 these may be considered the more ancient species of the 

 genus, which apparently once had the sexes alike in colour, 

 while those, in which the hen birds have acquired a more 

 attractive pattern, will probably be a more recent develop- 

 ment from the primitive form, though it is a little surpris- 

 ing that the higher style of colouration should have been 

 acquired by the females instead of by the males, as has 

 generally been the case in the class Aves. The nesting- 

 habits of the species might possibly be considered to be 

 too extraordinary to be true, if they had not been observed 

 by several excellent naturalists. Thus in regard to the 

 life-history of the Common Hemipode or Bustard-quail of 

 India and China (Turnix taigoor), Mr. A. O. Hume gives 

 the following account — " The most remarkable point in 

 the life-history of these Bustard-quails is the extraordinary 

 fashion in which the position of the sexes is reversed 

 among them. The females are the larger and handsomer 

 birds. The females only call, the females only fight, and 

 the natives say that they fight for the males, which is 

 probably true. What is certain is that, whereas in the 

 case of almost all the other Game-birds, it is the males 

 alone that can be caught in spring-cages and other traps, 

 to which they are attracted by the calls of other males, and 

 to which they come for the sake of a fight, in this species 

 no male will ever come to a cage baited with a male, 

 whereas every female within hearing rushes to the cage in 

 which a female is confined, and if allowed to meet during 

 the breeding-season, any two females will fight until one 

 or the other is dead, or nearly so. 



" The males, and the males only, as we have proved in 



