THE QUAIL. 
219 
“ Here’s Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough, and 
one that loves quails .”—Troilus and Cressida , Act v. Sc. 1. 
Even at the present day this sort of amusement is 
common in some parts of Italy, and still more so in 
China. In Italy, the practice is to feed up two quails 
very highly, and then place them opposite to each other at 
the end of a long table, throwing between them a few 
grains of millet-seed to make them quarrel. At first they 
merely threaten, lowering the head and ruffling all the neck 
feathers, but at length they rush on furiously, striking with 
their bills, erecting their heads, and rising upon their spurs, 
until one is forced to yield. 
In Antony and Cleopatra (Act ii. Sc. 3), Antonius says of 
Caesar:— 
“ 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.” 
That there was some foundation for this assertion, we 
may gather from the following extract from North’s 
“ Plutarch ” :— 
“ With Antonius there was a soothsayer or astronomer 
in Egypt that coulde cast a figure and judge of men’s 
nativities, to tell them what should happen to them. He 
told Antonius plainly that his fortune (which of itself was 
excellent good and very great) was altogether blemished 
