adherence to foreign fashions, call to mind Cowper's fable "Pairing Time Anticipated," in which,

"The birds, conceiving a design

To forestall sweet St. Valentine,"

verified the proverb, "Marry in haste, and repent at leisure," the moral of the whole being,

"Choose not alone a proper mate,

But proper time to marry.”

The diet of Emeus consists of grain and vegetables; cabbages and biscuits are much given to them, and it may be suggested that barley-bread, or the rye-bread which in some parts of Europe is the common food of man and beast, would be an inexpensive and convenient form in which to lay before them the farinaceous portion of their daily mess. A couple of Emeus would cost much about the same as a pair of small ponies to keep. The eggs are of a uniform dark bottle-green. The newhatched young are elegantly striped with dark brown on a fawn-coloured ground, like guinea-chicks on a very large scale. A peculiarity in their plumage deserves pointing out. Mr. Yarrell, speaking of feathers, in an interesting paper in the first volume of the Transactions of the Zoological Society says, "The accessory plume requires to be noticed. This is usually a small downy tuft, which not only assumes a very different character in the feathers of different species, but is even very dissimilar in the feathers of different parts of the body of the same bird. . . . . The four species of Struthious birds afford remarkable instances of the variety that occurs in this accessory plume, even in subjects so

*

* Page 13.

CHAP. IX.]

PECULIAR PLUMAGE.

373

closely allied. In the Ostrich the feathers have no accessory plume; in the Rhea there is a tuft of down; in the Emeu the accessory plume is augmented to the full size of the principal shaft and web, and the feather of this bird is constantly and correctly represented as having two plumes on one quill; in the Cassowary, besides the double shafts and webs from a single quill, as in the Emeu, there is still an accessory plume, thus forming three distinct parts."

Emblem of medioerity.-Explanation of specific name.-Call note.-Their migrations. Immense multitudes.-Their destruction.-Ancient history.Identical with the Quail of Scripture.-Do not universally migrate.-Welcome feasts afforded by their flight.-Quails in captivity.-Their fate in an aviary.Distinction between Quails and Partridges.-Unvarying plumage throughout the Old World.-Whether polygamous.-Careless of their young.-Their double moult.-Breeding in confinement.-Diet.-Subject to epilepsy.-Estimation as food.-Modes of cooking and of fatting.-Quail fights.-Distinction of sex.Pick-werwick.-Quails in process of fatting.-Necessaries of life.

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'BIRDS, faithfully imaging the relations of this life, offer to us, in the variety of their plumage, types of the distinctions which exist in the state in which Man finds himself placed. Many a one, puffed up with his wealth or his knowledge, resembles a Peacock, who, admiring his own splendour, seems himself to enjoy the magnificence which he displays; whilst the Quail, modestly clad, hiding itself from all eyes in its obscure retreat, is a representative of humble mediocrity, which strives

CHAP. X.]

SPECIFIC NAME.

375

to reject and abjure all parade of luxury and empty splendour."*

The Quail is remarkable on many accounts, besides that of having suggested a pleasing emblem to the naturalist whom we have quoted for a motto. Its usual specific name (to begin with that), though not quite appropriate, is curious. The epithet "dactyl-sounding " is given to describe the call of the male bird, which consists of three notes repeated at short intervals in loud, clear, and bell-like tones. As it is our natural wish that these Essays should become popular, we shall, for that reason, be relieved from the charge of pedantry in stating that "dactyl" is a metrical foot originally used in Greek and Latin versification consisting of three syllables, one long and two short, denoted thus 531 in the scanning of verses. The term is derived from the Greek word dánTuλos, dactylus (itself a dactyl), meaning

66

finger," a member that has three joints, one longer and two shorter. The words curriclě, gloōmily, bōuntiful, are English dactyls. But the Quail does not sing exactly in dactyls. The reader will perceive that in the instances we have given the accent is always on the first syllable; but the Quail's call marks the second as the strongest, and is easiest expressed by musical notation

and so on, keeping always to the same note in the scale. It is generally, not always, preceded by two or three frog-like croaks, and the whole strain may be taken to

*

Temminck, Hist. des Pig. et Gall., tom. i. p. 2.

mean, "Mate! Mate! come hither! come hither!" This dactyl-phrase might easily be made the groundwork and leading idea of a new set of "Quail Waltzes," or "Valses des Cailles," containing less necessary discord and fewer noises than many modern compositions favour our ears with. We recommend to this class of composers the perusal of a really curious and clever book, "The Music of Nature," by Mr. Gardiner of Leicester, which will furnish them with many valuable hints. The dactyl-song is strictly a call note, which adds to its interest. We had kept Quails in our diningroom for several months without hearing it, because they lived in company; but, on parting a couple, and placing their cages in separate apartments, we were soon favoured with a specimen of their vocal accomplishments.

The wonderful migrations of the Quail will occur to every tyro. Their numbers are astounding. Millions must quit their native home, never to return. They are imported, for the table, by thousands into England alone, besides the bevies that find their way hither not in cages, and at their own travelling charges. The numbers slaughtered at every halting-place during this passage all the way from Africa must be quite incalculable. The marvel is partly explained by Colonel Montagu*:- -"Dr. Latham remarks that he has known two instances where twenty eggs have been found in the nest of a Quail. This prolificacy is the occasion of the immense flocks that are annually noticed on their passage, spring and autumn, in various parts of the south of Europe." In Great Britain their numbers are

* Dictionary, Rennie's Edition, p. 395.