THE BIBDS OF SINGAPORE ISLAND 
Legge in his **Birds of Ceylon" writes: "Some of the 
Bustard Quails.,..,,... are remarkable for the Amazonian dis- 
position of the females, which, being larger and more 
handsomely pluma^ed than their partners, exhibit, during- the 
breeding season particularly, the bold and combative propen- 
sities which usually characterize the males. The ben birds 
attract each other by uttering; their note, which Jerdon aptly 
styles a 'purring call*; and when a rencontre takes place they 
at once engage in combat. So intent are they in carrying on 
the battle that 1 have stopped my carriage within a few yards 
of a pair fighting by the roadside in the 'cinnamon* and 
watched them for some time without their taking any notice 
of me I'' 
Mr. Stuart Baker, a much more recent authority, states 
that he has kept several species of bustard-quail in captivity, 
"but I found that though I could keep any numbers of the 
males together, I could not keep two females, as they always 
fought until one was disabled. Unfortunately I never managed 
to induce them to breed, though the hens would drop casual 
eggs here and there, of which they took no notice, 
"It is the cock bird that has to do all the hatching and 
looking after the young, and the hen, as soon as she has laid 
her first set of eggs, goes off to hunt up another male to look 
after her second, and so on, until matrimony palls for the 
season; and she either indulges in lonely blessedness or johis 
one or two other ladies who are also grass widows for the 
time being. 
''The male, having hatched the eggs, a process which 
takes about twelve days, then looks after the young and 
brings them up, performing his duties in the most admirable 
manner, feeding, tending them with the greatest solicitude, 
brooding them at night and fighting for them against all 
possible enemies, sometimes, including their mother, with the 
greatest bravery. 
"Whether, when in a state of freedom, having brought up 
one family, he thereupon undertakes the duties of a second 
it is impossible to say; but in captivity, when he is the only 
gentleman available, the lady generally enforces these duties 
upon him.' at least twice, if not more often.'* 
[421 
