CHAP, x.] DISTINCTION OF SEX. 391 



species, the total length of which does not exceed four 

 inches ; and the Hvmipvdius pugnax, or Pugnacious 

 Hemipod, or Half-foot, so called because, having no 

 hind toe, the back half of the foot may be said to be 

 wanting. The last seems to be the favourite gladiator, 

 the females even engaging in the set-to ; and the pro- 

 bability is that when Quail-fights* are mentioned, as in 

 the following extract, the Hemipod is the bird to which 

 the anecdote applies. 



" On our return from the beast fight, a breakfast 

 awaited us at the Royal Palace of Lucknow, and the 

 white table-cloth being removed, Quails, trained for the 

 purpose, were placed upon the green cloth, and fought 

 most gamely, after the manner of the English cockpit. 

 This is an amusement much in fashion among the 

 natives of rank, and they bet large sums on their birds, 

 as they lounge luxuriously round, smoking their 

 houkahs."f 



For aviary purposes the hen of the common Quail is 

 much more difficult to obtain in England than the cock. 

 A simple rule for those who are not learned ornitho- 

 logists is, that the hen has a decidedly speckled breast, 

 and that if a bird when placed alone, especially in a 

 darkened room, utters the cry which foreigners have 

 aptly spelt pick-werwick, pick-werwick, instead of Pick- 

 erwick, as given by English naturalists, it is a male." 



* In allusion to Quail-fighting, Shakspeare thus makes Antony 

 acknowledge the ascendant fortunes of Caesar : 



" The very dice obey him ; 

 And, in our sports, my better cunning faints 

 Under his chance : if we draw lots, he speeds : 

 His cocks do win the battle still of mine, 

 When it is all to nought ; and his quails ever 

 Beat mine, inhoop'd at odds." 



Antony and Cleopatra, Act II., Scene III. 



f Mundy's Sketches in India, vol. i. p. 39. 



