Which quail fights the fiercest? A comparison of fighting strength in quail

In the folk culture of northern Anhui, fighting quail are what middle-aged and elderly people enjoy; quail are extremely combative, and once domesticated, quail can take part in fights, attracting many folk enthusiasts. So which quail fights fiercely?

1. Which quail fights fiercely?

Quail love to fight, but first of all only male quail can fight; female quail are called “mother melon” and cannot fight. Quail are named by age: a one-year-old is called a “chick”, a two-year-old is called “bai dang”, a three-year-old is called “zao jiu”, and a four-year-old is called “vegetable melon”; these are all trade terms.

Whether a quail is combative also depends on its appearance: hawk beak, whisker color, feather pattern and color, and so on. The tuft of feathers under a male quail's beak is called “tiger wearing a golden bell”, the tuft on its head is called “phoenix”, a single white feather on the wing is called “single sword”, and one white feather on each wing is called “double sword”; these types are all rare varieties, and their current market prices are very high.

Male quail are also graded into ranks; not all quail can be used for “fighting”. Among them, the black-beaked, white-whiskered ones are the most precious, with the title “not even for an ox”. Next are the black-beaked, red-whiskered ones. Finally, those with mixed messy feathers are merely mediocre, and hoping they will achieve final victory is simply a vain hope.

2. Introduction to quail fighting

It originated in the era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, when Xiliang presented quail that could fight to the rhythm of golden drums, and many quail were kept in the palace for amusement. It was originally a folk game, and later became an activity for officials, wealthy people, and spoiled sons of rich families to pass the time and gamble. Because quail are fought in late autumn and early winter, it is called “winter excitement”. During a fight, labels are first pasted on the heads and chips are divided, then they are paired off to fight; each fight is called a round, hence it is also called the “quail round”. It has been included in the second batch of the municipal intangible cultural heritage list of Zaozhuang City.

Quail fighting is definitely held in the morning, when the quail are hungry. “Birds die for food”, and in competing for grain, quail become combative. Quail fighting is mostly done indoors; both sides place the quail in a rectangular winnowing pen woven from rattan, and the duel begins. During the duel, if one quail suddenly flies away, or stops fighting and is chased around the pen by its opponent, it has mostly lost. By the end of the battle, the quail are damaged and bloodstained, a pitiful sight. Yet the owner of the winning side is elated and can speak loudly, walk through the village with a puffed-out belly, and swagger. As the saying goes, “a bitten quail and a beaten chicken”; once a quail has been bitten and defeated, it will never dare to fight any quail again for the rest of its life. The defeated quail mostly meet a miserable end: some are thrown to death, and some become a dish to go with alcohol.

A mighty, fiercely fighting quail is very hard to come by, and it also needs proper training, so fighting quail are still relatively rare.