Quail. Common quail (Coturnix coturnix) Quail fights

The essay was published in No. 3 of the newspaper “Five Hunts” for 2006.

Until now, in our south, quails are sometimes kept in cages for the pleasure of listening to their cry. And in countries Central Asia this hobby is especially widespread. Quails are also kept here as fighting birds. In addition, quail is believed to bring wealth and prosperity.

Quail call

The characteristic quail fight on spring evenings can be heard several kilometers away. It is usually conveyed with the sounds: “drink-drink-drink!” or “heed!” And they interpret them as “it’s time to sleep!”

In fact, the song of the common quail is somewhat more complex and consists of two clearly distinguishable parts: “wavakanya” and the fight itself. Vavakan (or “mamakan”) can be heard especially clearly at close range.

The first part: the quail repeats the hoarse, somewhat muffled, quiet sounds of “va-va” several times. This is followed by a very loud sound, repeated up to ten times. There are also males who never scream, but only wail. You can listen to such a quail all day and not hear a fight. Hunters used to call them “wawaks.” The reasons for this phenomenon are not clear. Hunters once believed that these were very old quails, with a large black spot under the throat. However, such “wawaks” are also found among young people. According to observations, such males in all other respects do not differ from others: they guard their lek site, enter into skirmishes with other males, and actively court females.

The cry of a quail, with all its simplicity, is difficult for a person to accurately convey with the sounds of human speech. In addition to the first part of the song - vavakanya, experts distinguish in its second part, boya, as many as three special tribes. Ordinary people can reproduce the quail song in different ways:

Va-va... va-va... under-low!.. under-under!

Wow-wow... wow-wow... wow-wow-wow!.. wow-wow-wow!

Wow-wow... wow-wow... drink-drink-drink!.. drank-drink-drink!

Va-va... va-va... pit-slab!.. pit-slab!

Wow-wow... wow-wow... tormented!..tortured!

Vir-vir... vir-vir... drink and drink!.. drink and drink!

Kva-va... qua-va... drink-drink-beat!.. drink-drink-beat!

Ma-mmma... ma-mmma... fwat-fal-wat!.. fwat-fal-wat!

How-how... how-how... way-pude!.. way-pude!

Hva-wah... hwa-wah... sing-weed!.. sing-weed!

During mating, the quail becomes very excited and looks very entertaining. This is how ornithologist M.A. described it. Menzbier: “When striking, the bird crouches, inflates its crop, at the first blow it rises, at the second it stands completely straight with its head raised, at the third it leans back a little, at the fourth or later it may even fall on its back.”

About quail fight

Once upon a time in Russia there were a lot of fans of a simple quail song. Before this activity, hunters could spend hours searching through the fields for a particularly striking singer. They were specially caught and taken special care of.

In the quail fight itself, real experts distinguished three tribes: rise, wire and ebb. Accordingly, rendered as “drink-drink-drink!” Each quail has them individually, and lovers evaluate them differently.

In mediocre quails, which, of course, are the majority, all the knees are abruptly short and merge into one hasty, somewhat whistling blow with sounds like: “fvit-fvit-vit” or “fvit-fvit-vit!”. And despite the fact that at one time they had even more blows than the most valuable quails, they were not favored and were called “frequent-grabbers” or “clean-grabbers”,

A good quail can scream loudly, although there is no particular merit in this, and not very much, but it cannot make many strikes at one time. But the more intense, prolonged, uniform and separate the blows of each knee, the higher the value of the singer. With this manner of shouting, much more effort is expended than with short, light and abrupt blows. The best quail can make one strike. And for a greater number of blows, such a singer will need special forces. It is rare that an outstanding soloist is able to do more than two or three of them.

The timbre of the fight in good quails can be either “with wheezing” or “without wheezing.” But the best ones should have the fullest, thickest “rattle.” In such quails, it, like the length, should pass evenly through all the knees of the call, and the most valuable ones usually reach the highest tension in the “wire” and, as it were, divide this knee into two tones: higher and lower and thicker. Such wheezing, together with the longest and most distant cry, was considered the height of perfection of the calling quail. These are what the quail hunters tried to find in the field and catch. In the 19th century, they paid a lot of money for such birds - up to 300 rubles. But they were always rare, and finding such a quail was far from easy.

Between the common quails and the outstanding quails, connoisseurs distinguished several more groups of “occasional” quails, ranging from “occasionally” to “occasionally anywhere”. That is, from the most mediocre to the best “occasionally”. But for the hunters these were not real quails.

Over time, interest in quail fighting faded. Connoisseurs of quail fighting have disappeared. There are few experts left in keeping quails in cages, although they still exist.

Quail at home

I had to keep a quail caught by my cop in a cage. This is a very cute bird. Keeping quails in cages is not difficult. These birds tolerate captivity well if you know how to keep them. Quails quickly get accustomed to unfamiliar surroundings. They get used to their owner, are not at all afraid of him and can recognize him when approaching, but still never become tame. Quails beat at home care all year round. The most active period for a singer is from spring to autumn. Only in winter there can be a short break. Birds are unpretentious to cage conditions, very active and energetic.

Real lovers used to keep quails in special, carefully decorated cages. They were made from hard rocks wood, oak or beech, with bamboo rods. The entire cell was covered with colorless varnish.

Quail cages should have high sides, as they like to dig in the sand that is poured onto the bottom of the cage. Instead of sand, you can also use ash. But, what is very important, instead of a ceiling in the cage, canvas is stretched. Otherwise, being frightened and jumping up, the bird may hit hard and injure its head. The feeder and drinker are taken outside the cage so that when swimming in the sand, the quail does not clog the food and water. Access to them is open to birds through holes in the sides. It is better to make the bars of the cage wooden.

Quails are never kept in pairs. They will fight constantly and one of them will die. And the quail strikes only alone.

The basis of quail nutrition at home is millet mixed with other seeds. It is necessary to add various greens to this food. Quails love plantain and dandelion. They will not refuse insects, sprouted millet grains and hemp. They molt once a year and very quickly, at this time the quails are heavily fed protein foods and try to take care of them and not disturb them. In the summer they can be fed with insects, and in the winter you can choose a suitable protein food. For example, ant eggs.

Quails in cages drink little, but you need to monitor the availability of water and change it more often.

Sergey Matveev

This tiny “chicken” is one of the favorite trophies of leggings. However, in the past, quail were also caught alive to be kept in cages - the male quail screams and “beats” very beautifully. Any resident of villages, inhabitants of gardens and summer cottages, who has at least once visited meadows and fields at the beginning of summer, has probably heard the famous fight of a male quail. “Come on! Come on!” - an invisible bird whistles in the morning and at dawn, as if giving us a sign - summer has come!

Russian lovers of birdsong, songbird hunters, often kept quails at home. But there were those who dealt only with them, competitions were organized, the same as those of the canaries. Unfortunately, in Russia this type of hunting has died out almost completely. First, the merchants, the main “consumer” and buyer of this bird, disappeared, then chemicalization took effect - the quails themselves disappeared, and after this, those who knew how to catch quails and understood a lot about this matter also left. In the old days, among lovers of quail fighting, particularly ringing and tireless birds were valued extremely highly, and their price reached hundreds of rubles. But traditions are being revived, and canary competitions have already taken place in Moscow. How I wish that quail hunting, which once brought so much joy to its lovers, would be revived in Russia, and we would suddenly hear through the curtained windows of some Moscow tavern the fight of a quail, the sound of our native open spaces.

You can read more about this bloodless hunt at M.A. Menzbir, S.T. Aksakova and in a very good article Anton Mezhnev"Quail pipe", published in magazine "Nature and Hunting" No. 2-3 for 1995, which I decided to post on this page.

"Quail pipe

Russian people love the fight of quails, although there is nothing particularly pleasant to the ear in it, and many keep them in cages. Even now in Moscow, along some small streets and alleys, through the sound of wheels and the din of the people, you can often hear the voice of a quail. Needless to say, this pitiful cry, drowned out by noise, is not like a sonorous, free quail fight in open fields, in clean air and silence: be that as it may, only in Rus' have there been, and perhaps even now exists somewhere, passionate quail hunters, mainly merchants...

S. T. AKSAKOV

Notes of a rifle hunter of the Orenburg province

... Sparrowhawk (m) is a hunter of quails, as of songbirds. Who catches them? On Methodius, the feast of sparrowhawks, June 20 (s.s.). Sparrowhawking, catching quails, luring them at dawn with a pipe, under a thin net spread over the grass, or under a standing, double-walled one.

Vladimir DAL

Dictionary living Great Russian language

Who among us has not heard the “fight” of a quail: “It’s time to sleep!” Time to sleep!” - stuffy summer evenings or, conversely, in the dewy morning dawns: “Go weed! Let's go weed!"? Who, at the memory of this, even in the middle of winter, will not have a sweet heart stir, and will it not seem to smell of the aromas of rural Russia - earth and herbs, hay and flowering meadows?

From time immemorial "fight" of quail was an indispensable summer attribute, even a symbol of the Russian landscape - hayfields, fields, pastures. This is probably why Russians have long sought to keep quails in their homes - as a piece of summer, a warm and fruitful time. The birds seemed to warm their owners, comforting them in life’s hardships.

In the past, before the advent and spread of intensive agricultural technologies, there were tens and hundreds of times more quail than now. Their use was truly massive and commercial in nature. Birds were shot with or without gun dogs, beaten with sticks, caught with pillow nets, nooses, nets and other simple devices. Killed birds were stored in barrels; those caught alive were often kept for the purpose of fattening and further sale. Profits from quail fishing sometimes accounted for a significant part of the annual income of residents of southern Russia, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. Quails hunted in late summer and autumn, when the birds, having completed the breeding season, begin to first wander and then migrate southwards, forming huge flocks under unfavorable conditions. weather conditions for flying across seas, mountains, deserts. Keeping quails for aesthetic purposes is, in all likelihood, secondary and comes from keeping birds for the purpose of fattening them. Experience shows that young males captured during the migration period begin to “beat” already in December. Fingerlings make up the majority in the population during this period. Their peers, females, also exhibit sexual activity during this period, expressed in calling calls.

Thus, the catcher, who was a little late in selling quails, discovered that these, although dim, but very cute and unpretentious birds, have another advantage - a unique, charming “song” in its own way. An observant person, and any birder should have observation, could not help but notice that the “fight” of different males sounds different: it can be faster or slower, repeated more often or less frequently, sound several times or only once, consist of only “mumbles” or be completely devoid of them, differ in intensity, volume, purity and beauty of sound. Outstanding “singers” who best suit human tastes are quite rare.

But catch in the fall a large number of silent males, and then wait until winter to select the best “singers” from them, it was both inconvenient and expensive.

The method of luring and catching males was obvious to a hunter accustomed to carefully studying and using the habits of animals. When kept in captivity, he heard the call of the female - a series of gentle short trills repeated with increasing intensity, and saw the reaction to this call of the male, who increases the activity of the “fight” and strives for this sound. The combination of a pillow net and a decoy female should have been natural.

However, when using a decoy female quail, the same problems arise as when hunting in the spring with a decoy mallard duck: birds with high decoy qualities are rare, and the qualities themselves do not appear all the time. Not every hunter has the opportunity to keep decoys. Then the decoy will help him.

Quail decoy, also called "pipe" or "fairy tale", imitates the calling cry of a female. It consists of the pipe itself and a device for pumping air into it.

Dudochka- this is an ordinary pipe whistle with an internal diameter of 7-10 mm and a length of 5-7 cm. Straight tubular bones (humerus and femur) were traditionally used to make the pipe. large birds- geese, herons and the like, less often - ground lamb bones. I have also seen pipes made from metal (brass, copper) and even plastic tubes, but they invariably turned out to be less effective than bone ones. The end of the pipe into which air is pumped is left open, and the other is tightly sealed with some soft material. Traditionally it is wax, today it is plasticine or other non-drying putty. When does the turn come to fine-tune how musical instrument, using a special narrow and thin metal plate, a small hole is made if necessary. This plate is always with the decoy, sometimes they are even connected. An experienced birder often adjusts the pipe right on the hunt.

On the side, approximately in the middle, a small hole is drilled in the tube, the size and shape of which can be changed when adjusted using putty. A threshold is made from it in front of the hole in the air path. Thus, the pipe is, in essence, an ordinary whistle.

The devices that pump air into the pipe are different for Russian and Central Asian decoys. For Russians, it is a special corrugated “fur”, tightly fastened with wax and harsh threads at the open end of the tube. The fur itself was traditionally made from tanned leather; the best material for it was considered to be cow tail. A special machine was used to make the fur corrugated. At the end opposite the pipe, the fur is hermetically sealed. A special cork is inserted into it, and the fur skin is sewn over it. A kind of “handle” is formed, which is convenient to hold with two fingers. A loop of thin rope is tied to it, of such a size that you can freely thread your hand through it. Fur dimensions: length 10-14 cm, diameter near the pipe 12-15 mm, at the opposite end about 30 mm, depth of the ring folds 2-3 mm.

Extracting sound from a Russian decoy, although it looks quite simple on the surface, in reality requires certain skills. It's done like this. The decoy is held with the left hand, and the fur is pulled by the rope loop with the right. When the loop is released, the bellows contracts and the pipe emits a short, gentle whistle - the first leg of the trill. Immediately the bellows is squeezed even more tightly, and the pipe emits a second warble sound. It sounds almost the same as the first one. Then the fur is released and stretched by the loop - the decoy is again ready for use. This cycle (stretching-releasing-compressing-releasing-stretching) must be brought to automaticity by the hunter - he must learn to produce a series of double triggers without looking at the bike.

Central Asia has its own traditions of catching and keeping quails in captivity, perhaps even more ancient than in Russia. In Central Asian semolina - "kirk" There is a pipe, just like the Russian one. Even the shape and dimensions of the tuning plate are the same. True, it is most often not metal, but made from a reed stalk, which is close in strength to bamboo.

However, the method of pumping air into the pipe and the design of the decoy itself in Central Asia are completely different. The base for the pickaxe is carved from a single piece of wood, but consists of several parts. An elongated “console” with a groove for attaching a pipe and a round part with a recess (diameter about 3 cm, depth 6-7 mm) are required.

However, in order to reproduce the calling calls of a female, it is necessary to use, in addition to the fingers, another part of the human body - oral cavity. Such a decoy appearance looks like a small spoon, in the handle of which there is a pipe, and the “scoop” plays a role in pumping air. This “spoon” is placed in the mouth between the teeth and cheek, with the indentation towards the cheek. The cheek thus becomes a membrane covering the rounded depression of the kirk. By hitting the outside of the cheek with his fingers and manipulating the lips, cheeks and tongue, the wafer can extract from the pipe sounds that satisfy the tastes of the most demanding male quail. The disadvantage of this method is that it is difficult to master. Without repeated demonstration and repetition on a specific decoy, this is impossible, and not every student will decide to put a decoy in his mouth, even after a very respectable elder-teacher.

Another variety of Central Asian quail call uses the same principle of air injection using a cavity and a membrane, but in this case the membrane is no longer the cheek, but a piece of elastic, airtight material. It is fixed at the point where the pipe exits into the rounded recess of the pickaxe, stretched and held with the left hand, and the fingers of the right hand strike the membrane with a light shot. The skin from the neck (throat) of ducks and geese was traditionally used as a material for the membrane, and feathers were not removed from it. It was believed that they give the sound the necessary softness. IN modern conditions More often they use the rubber of bicycle inner tubes, medical gloves and even children's inflatable balloons. For a more natural sound, the drummer wets the membrane with saliva.

A special type of Central Asian decoys are adjustable pickaxes. Their peculiarity is that the pipe is integral with the base of the semolina (made from the same piece of material). Its outer end is not covered with wax, but is closed with a special piston, which regulates the pitch of the sound. Quails, like people, have their own “taste”, so directly during the hunt you can choose the sound of a decoy that causes the most violent reaction from the male. Experienced quail catchers have no doubt that younger males like females with in low voices, that is, older ones, and older males are given young females with higher voices. The piston is either a tightly rolled, bandaged and glued cylinder of leather with a tassel at the end, or a special screw. In the first case, the decoy is made of wood, and the piston, held by the brush, is slightly pulled out of the pipe or pushed into it; in the second, the pickaxe is made of plastic, sometimes transparent (it looks very impressive), and adjustments are made by turning a screw.

Finally, the decoy is ready, and the hunter chooses a time for hunting (at middle lane Russia, as a rule, no earlier than 2-3 weeks after arrival, after the main part of the females have settled on the clutches) and place (it should be heard or possibly larger number males, or one single “outstanding singer”). In this case, the catcher can provoke males to scream by loudly playing the pipe.

When a place has been found and the desired male has responded, the catcher spreads a net measuring from 2x3 to 6x6 m on the grass, and he lies down behind it with a pipe. This is where it all begins! The excitement of such a hunt is incomparable to anything. Respectable elders turn into mischievous boys in an instant. Old people in Russian villages, when remembering these episodes, forget about their ailments and are ready to depict in their faces all the vicissitudes of the hunt. The essence of the hunt is to, by calling to the quail, lure it under the net, then, standing up sharply, force it, making a “candle,” to hit the net and at that moment grab the long-awaited prey. There is more than enough adventure and excitement on such a hunt. Either several males will rush to the decoy at once and start a current without reaching the net, then a female will approach the decoy (such cases, although rare, do happen), then a quail that has flown to the call will sit on top of the net, then the male, seemingly already captured, leaves from the hands and from under the net, leaving a few feathers as a consolation for the hunter. It’s impossible to count all the cases; the stories about them last for hours if the hunter meets an interested listener. The catcher’s attitude towards the captive is the most benevolent: having disentangled him from the net, he is ready to kiss him, and then he will pamper and cherish him, receiving in gratitude the incomparable sensations from the “fight” of a quail.

Hunters and fans of quail “fight” present high requirements to the voice of your pets. Here is what M.A. Menzbier, professor at Moscow University, wrote, for example, at the beginning of the century: “The voice of quails, like hunting, is divided into vavakanye, or mammy, and to a cry. There are such quails that never cry, but only mamachut, and hunters call them “mamaks.” The quail call consists of three special tribes: "rise", "delays" And "low tide". For the vast majority, that is, for bad quails, all the calls merge into one hasty, somewhat whistling blow, which can be conveyed by sounds like “fwat-valvat” or “fwit-fwitfwit!” Such quails are called "clean grabbers" or "frequency grabbers". The dear quail can still scream loudly, although this is not a special advantage in him, but he absolutely cannot make many strikes at one time. A perfectly good quail often makes only one strike. There are also good quails "with a wheeze" And "no wheezing", but the very good ones always have the most complete, the most dull "wheezing".

In Central Asia, quail lovers have completely different requirements for “fighting”, which differ in different regions. Singing males are divided as follows. Paparak(tez otar) sings quickly and loudly, as lovers of this variety say, in a full, ringing, pleasant voice. Birds with such a “song” are not found very often and are expensive. Tatalak begins the song with vavakaniya, and then immediately quickly switches to “ta-ta-lak” with a certain emphasis. Vavakaniye is a kind of beginning of singing, pronounced once or twice. The more and more often a bird pronounces the sounds “ta-ta-lak”, the more expensive it is. Some quails pronounce this sound up to 10-12 times, without a break between the first and second knee. U hushtakchi, the song is reminiscent of the whistle “vit-vit”, “fit-fit”. These quails are especially valued in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region. Salmoki do not sing as quickly and actively as the first two varieties. Their song is somewhat slow. Birds begin the “fight” with the sounds “ta-lak, ta-lak”, then make sounds like “pat-palak”. This variety is valued inexpensively among Tashkent and Fergana lovers, but among Khorezm lovers it is held in high esteem.

In Central Asia, the situation with quail hobbyism is quite favorable, and it is even developing. Many thousands of people, especially in rural areas, keep quails in their homes, which are a symbol of wealth and prosperity for them. Besides calling quails, also popular fighting who sing poorly but are different large sizes and special build. Fighting cockerels in a special way trained and fattened before entering the “ring”. There is an entire industry providing

covering all manifestations of quail hobbyism, even special rows in the most ordinary markets. Elderly people, having retired, often devote themselves entirely to their favorite business. I was really envious when I got acquainted with all this in Uzbekistan. ( View an interesting photo report about such battles - D.J.)

Unfortunately, in Russia the traditions of quail hunting described above and keeping common quails in homes have practically disappeared, partly due to a decrease in the number of birds, partly for socio-economic reasons. There are still people alive who, in their youth, caught quails and kept them for the sake of singing. The descendants of former lovers of netting and semolina keep them as priceless relics and will not part with them for any money, but the problem is that they are not used for their intended purpose, but only as illustrations for “legends of antiquity”, which, however, are not yet so deep.

Currently, due to a decrease in the intensity level Agriculture, the number of common quail has stabilized and is beginning to grow in some places. God grant that this will contribute to at least a partial revival of Russian traditions!”

An article complements Anton Mezhnev's article Sergei Matveev"Catching quails with pipes", published in the newspaper "Five Hunts"(No. 4, 2006)

"Catching quails with pipes

Since ancient times in Rus' sparrowhawked- caught quails, luring males under a thin net spread on the grass using special tools - decoys. These instruments were called "pipes", "Vabilki" or "tales". There was even a special professional holiday sparrowhawks, which was celebrated in the summer on Methodius(July 3, new style). The decoy is used both to lure males and to detect them. Curls can be of different designs, but they all imitate the calling cry of a female. For a long time, to this day, catching quails with a pipe has been used by fans of quail fighting, who keep males in cages. But they also use quail pipes to stimulate the birds in the cage to sing.

It is not uncommon, especially in spring and early summer, to have several quail calling in each field. There may be several dozen of them within the hearing range of the ordinary human ear!

Strike quails respond very well to the call and respond actively. Using a pipe, they lure the male under a hanging net or into an open place in order to then cover him with the net. Catching quails using decoys is an exciting activity. Hunting this way can be very rewarding. However, you can only lure when the bird is nearby and you are in its territory, 60-70 m ahead.
It is prohibited to hunt quails before August in Russia. However, catching quail for use as a decoy when training a dog is still practiced by hunters. Such one-time seizures do not cause much damage to the population, since the quail is polygamous, and the male does not take part in incubating and raising the brood.
Wabilka-pipe consists of a device for pumping air and a whistle tube. The tube is usually made 5-7 cm long and 7-10 mm in diameter. By traditional technology For the pipe, straight tubular bones (humerus or femur) of large birds - geese, herons, etc. were used. Later, metal and plastic began to be used to make pipes. But experts believe that they are not so good.

Air can be supplied to the pipe using special bellows. This fur is made from tanned leather, which is removed from the calf's tail. It is made using a special device and has the appearance of a corrugated tube, narrow on one side and wide on the other. Bellows are usually 10–14 cm long and have a diameter of 12–15 mm at the pipe, and about 30–50 mm at the blind end. The depth of the ring folds of the accordion is 2-8 mm.

One of the modern hunters and pipers N.A. Andrusenko makes a tube for fur as follows.

For production, tanned leather is used, removed with a stocking from the tail of a young calf, no older than two months. A special matrix-form is prepared in advance. To do this, a cone about 200 mm long is turned from soft wood, with a diameter of 40-50 mm in the wide part and 10-15 mm in the narrow part. Having retreated 20 mm from the wide part of the matrix, a screw groove is carefully machined in increments of 5-8 mm. Its depth along the wide part of the cone is 7-8 mm, and towards the narrow part it decreases to 2-3 mm. As a result, a kind of carving is obtained on the surface of the wooden matrix. The soaked stocking of leather is pulled onto a cone, lubricated with grease or a similar lubricant, pressed into the matrix using a thick nylon thread along the thread and dried. When the skin is completely dry, the matrix is ​​carefully unscrewed from the stocking, and the fur is ready.

One of the options could be like this. A small hole is drilled on the side of the tube, approximately in the middle, the size and shape of which changes during adjustment, for which putty is used. The putty should not dry out so that you can adjust the wobble at any time. A special threshold is made from it in front of the hole in the path of the air forced by the fur. Once upon a time, only wax was used for putty. Nowadays, plasticine is often used, but it is not entirely convenient, since warm weather becomes too soft.

The end of the pipe opposite to the fur is sealed tightly. When tuning the pipe, a small hole was made in it using a special narrow and thin metal plate or needle, if necessary. Since the decoy has to be adjusted in the field when hunting, such a plate is certainly carried along with the lure.

When tuning a quail pipe, they ensure that it reproduces the female’s cry as accurately as possible. The sounds made by a quail are expressed approximately as: “tyu-tyu”, “tyutyu”, “tyu-ryu”, “tiuriuriu”, “rryu-rryu”, “tyur-tyur”, and sometimes – “brit-vit”, "britbit", "bru-bru".

You can make a pipe in another way. A 2.5 mm hole is drilled in the tube, at a distance of 20-25 mm from the end. Up to this hole, the tube is filled with wax, and a channel for air is made in it. Then, covering the opposite end of the tube with a finger, they blow into this whistle, and, using the rod, moving the wax further from the hole made, then closer, they achieve a good ringing sound. After this, cover the free end of the tube with wax.

A leather fur is attached to the input end of the whistle with harsh threads and wax on the narrow side. From the opposite end it is hermetically sealed with a special stopper, and the skin is sewn or tied with thread over it.

A special thin rope or rope loop of such a size that you can thread your hand through it is tied to the fur accordion from the blind end. You can do this by drilling a small hole in the cork. And the pipe is ready.

With certain skills, it is quite easy to extract an alluring sound from such a drum. It is held with the left hand, and with the right hand the fur is pulled through a rope loop. The loop is released, and when the fur is compressed, the pipe emits a short, gentle whistle - this is the first knee of the female’s cry. Without stopping, the bellows is squeezed, and the pipe emits a second note, which sounds almost the same as the first. Then the process is repeated.

ON THE. Andrusenko uses a different technique for playing the weave. The pipe rope is wound around the index finger of the left hand so that there is about 3 mm of free play between the finger and the decoy plug. The thumb of the left hand is kept pressed to the rope wound around the bent index finger or slightly raised above it. Holding, without blocking the outlet, large and index finger right hand by the whistle, lightly but sharply squeeze and release the fur. In this case, the wide end of the fur hits the thumb left hand, and when squeezed with the free fingers of the right hand, lightly hit the bellows accordion. As a result, the pipe makes sounds similar to the warbling of a female. Of course, to work with a decoy, you need training.

Having made and configured the lure, the hunter can go out into the fields and meadows. The main thing in such a hunt is not in the number of quails caught, but in finding an outstanding screamer.

To lure your favorite quail, you need certain tactics. First, they try to quietly approach the soloist at 20-30 meters and listen carefully. According to observations of hunters with pipes, if a quail, along with the cry “sweat-weed!” constantly, repeatedly and clearly waaks, then he has already heard a female somewhere nearby, and it will not be possible to lure him. When he is just waving, it means he is busy with the female, and it is useless to attract such a one. If you hear a bright, loud fight and rare “va-va”, then you can try to catch it. In this case, they sit down in the grass and quietly beckon. And since the female’s voice is not accurately conveyed by the decoy, they play the pipe only to the cry of the male. Having heard the cock, the male may remain silent for some time. They beckon him again, only even quieter. When the quail, in addition to “sing-weed!” begins to actively emit his “va-va” several times in a row, which means he believed the decoy. Then the net is spread over the tops of the plants, the hunter hides in the grass near one of its edges and begins to beckon.

It is more convenient to use nets in links or sections ranging in size from 2x5 to 3x8 m. Depending on the circumstances, use one net or make up a large one of several nets. The main condition for the catchability of such nets is their lightness. The mesh size of the net should be such that the head and shoulders of the quail can freely pass through it, approximately 4x4 cm. The net for catching quails used to be knitted from the thinnest and strongest threads and dyed in green color. Now you can knit a net from a thin fishing line.

The net is hung loosely so that the bird gets confused and does not hit it. To ensure that the quail quickly gets tangled during take-off, they land (straighten) the net. To do this, it is lifted slightly up by the loops from different sides away from the edges and released. At the same time, the network lies weakened, “posadistically”. It is best to stretch the net over grown winter or perennial grasses left over from last year on the stubble. Then the net gets tangled less than in weeds and bushes. The hunter usually hides right next to the edge of the net. At the same time, they try not to move and maintain silence.

As the quail fight gets closer and closer, they play the pipe more and more quietly. When the bird comes very close, they emit only one short and quiet warble. If the quail stopped shouting “va-va” and began to leave, it means he stopped trusting the pipe. It’s impossible to lure this one in anymore. At first, a quail may be wary of a net spread on the grass, but then, having gotten used to it, it will run under it. If the male does not fully trust the decoy, then he can go under the net in silence. Therefore, they carefully monitor whether the grass moves anywhere when the quail moves. Having lured him by playing the pipe under the net, and you can be sure of this when the male shouts under the net, they jump up sharply, forcing him to take off. When the bird hits the net and gets entangled, they try to first press the net around, and only then carefully disentangle the prey.

You can hunt with a pipe and together. It's even more convenient. In this case, the piper hunter attracts the quail, choosing a convenient position about five meters from the net, and the assistant, hiding near it, scares the quail when it runs under the net.

More than a dozen quail fight lovers gathered in the central teahouse in the village of Khistevarz, Bobojongafurovsky district of Tajikistan. However, they had to leave with nothing - fewer players arrived than expected, and the battle was postponed.

We invite all true fans of quail fights to the cities of Istaravshan and Khujand,” announced one of the organizers of the gambling national game"bedonachang" Karim Khalikov. – Come – and you will not regret either the time lost or the money spent.

Unfortunately, the number of fans of quail fighting is decreasing from year to year, says 81-year-old Khodzhiboy Urunov. - Previously, battles took place in different cities of the region seven days a week, people came from all over Sogd (Sogd region), even came from neighboring regions of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. However, now these spectacles take place only twice a week: on Wednesdays in Istaravshan, and on Thursdays in Khujand.

Real fierce battles can be seen in Istaravshan, adds another fan of these games, Abduvali Sharipov. – More than a hundred fans of quail fights gather from Isfara, Kanibadam, Khujand, Matcha, Zafarabad, Ganchi, Spitamen, Istaravshan. The prize fund sometimes reaches ten thousand somoni (about two and a half thousand dollars). Previously, when there was no visa regime between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, dozens of fans came from the neighboring republic, and the prize fund sometimes exceeded three thousand dollars.

I know a man who would never trade his quail for a cash cow,” says Khodzhiboy Urunov. - There is a known case when a husband divorced his wife because of his passion for quail: the wife did not respect his hobbies... That man explained to the court during the divorce: “You can find another wife, but a good, brave and courageous quail is unlikely... "

If I don’t take part in these battles at least once a week, I get sick,” Khalik Mirzoev, a resident of the city of Isfara, honestly admits. - Although the battle lasts only five minutes, the impression from it lasts for a long time.

However, there are many people who breed birds just like that, out of love for quails. One of them - chief physician Sughd Regional Cardiological Dispensary Khabibullo Makhmudov. More than thirty quails, many partridges (a type of partridge), peacocks and other birds live in his home.

This is a traditional hobby of our family,” says Khabibullo Makhmudov. - When I was little, our grandfather Mahmudboy raised quails, chukars, and peacocks, looked after them, and I helped him. When my grandfather died, my father gave away all the cages with the birds to his family and friends: he worked as a driver, was on the road all the time and was not able to keep an eye on the birds, he was afraid that they would die of hunger. And I, while still a schoolboy, decided to continue my grandfather’s work. Grandfather's quails sometimes took part in quail fights, but I only breed them: I like the way they sing. They start singing at three o’clock in the morning: pit-pilik, pit-pilik... And my nerves calm down, the stress goes away...

Quail singing, oddly enough, has a positive effect on human health. No music can compare with the simultaneous singing of several quails, and many doctors, teachers, artists and musicians keep quails at home. The former chief doctor of the Shelkombinat hospital in the city of Khujand, 76-year-old Abdukakhhor Gafurov, also keeps quails - and has not yet complained of health.

Quails are migratory birds, says Khabibullo Makhmudov. “They appear here in April, and in the fall they fly to the tropics. Therefore, the first quail hunting season begins in April: hunters go to wheat fields, set up nets (nets) and blow the whistle, imitating the gentle voice of a quail. Various quails are caught in the net, but only those birds that have a strong voice are put in cages.

One day I came across the book “Notes of a Gun Hunter of the Orenburg Region” by Sergei Aksakov, published in 1830 in Orenburg,” continues Khabibullo Makhmudov. - He talks about hunting birds, predators and wild animals. In the “Quail” section, Aksakov talks about the methods of hunting these birds - and it is interesting that the same hunting traditions are preserved today. In particular, the “shabtur” method, night hunting of quail with large ten-meter nets, is still widely used. This is how they hunt in September. Aksakov recalls that when he wandered the streets of Moscow, he often heard quails singing from the windows. The price of a good quail could reach up to a hundred rubles.

Experts and lovers of quail confirm that not every person can keep these birds at home; they require care: you need to clean the cage, change the water, feed with special food... Quails are fed millet and millet; in winter, once a week you need to give the birds a compound feed of carrots, herbs, and dill , coriander, plantain. Sometimes quails are fed with locusts. To prevent wild birds from attacking them: petrel, white falcon, hawk, black crow, the cage is covered with a white cloth.

Quails live from six to eight years. From three to four years old, their voice becomes lower and lower.

Quail meat is a delicacy and has a high calorie content, emphasizes Khabibullo Makhmudov. - It contains a large amount of phosphorus. Previously, every morning for breakfast, we gave all the patients - and there were 230 of them - five quail eggs.

According to the livestock specialist, a graduate of the Tajik Agrarian University Akram Saidolimov, quails are currently grown at poultry farms in the city of Khujand, as well as in the Jabbarrasulovsky and Gissar regions of Tajikistan. However, in the country's universities there is no separate faculty or department that would train specialists in breeding these birds, although by breeding quails, chukars and other birds, it would be possible to partially solve the issue of the country's food security. Many experts believe that the government of Tajikistan should develop a special concept for the development of poultry farming, one of the areas of which should be the breeding of quails, chukars, falcons and similar birds. After all, they, first of all, destroy locusts - one of the most dangerous pests.

Khalik Mirzoev's quail won several fights that took place in Khujand. With the winnings I decided to buy a power tool and several new “fighters”, but I couldn’t find any suitable quails ready for fighting. I had to buy one chick for 50 somoni ($12), although an ordinary quail in the courtyard of the Panjshanbe market can be purchased for 5 somoni ($1.2).

In a week in Istaravshan I will buy angrier quail,” says Khalik Mirzoev. - There's a lot of choice. Good quails will not let you down; with aggressive and brave quails you will not be left without your daily bread. If you won at least a small fight, you earned at least one hundred somoni ($25). Instead of sitting idle at home and gossiping like an old man, it’s better to do something useful, says 63-year-old Khalik Mirzoev.

Tilav Rasul-zade
Fergana.news

, cry of a frightened quail , quail chirping

Body length 16-20 cm, weight 80-145 g. Plumage of buffy color, top of the head, back, rump and upper tail coverts with dark and light brown transverse stripes and spots, a reddish stripe behind the eye. The male has dark red cheeks, a red crop, and a black chin and throat. The female differs from him in having a pale buffy chin and throat and the presence of black-brown spots (speckles) on the crop and sides.

Spreading

Quail is common in Europe, Africa and Western Asia; in Russia - in the east to Lake Baikal. Lives in fields on plains and mountains. Winters in Africa and South-West Asia, mainly in South Africa and in Hindustan. Breeds throughout Europe and Asia up to North Africa, Palestine, Iran and Turkestan. Arrives south in early April, north in early May.

Reproduction

As soon as the grass grows, the quail begins to scream and the males enter into battle with each other over the female. Nests are made on the ground. The female lays 8-20 fawn-colored eggs with black-brown spots; incubates for 15-17 days and hatches chicks without the participation of a male.

Lifestyle

When the grain is ripe, the quails move to the fields, quickly fatten up and become very fat. Depending on the latitude, they fly away from the end of August to the end of September. The food is mainly plant (seeds, buds, shoots), less often insects.

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting quails (Louvre, Paris)

Quail meat and eggs are very tasty. Mineral fertilizers and pesticides dispersed on fields lead to poisoning and a sharp decrease in the number of quails, which were previously hunted during the autumn migration in the Crimea and the Caucasus. Quail tolerates captivity very well. In Central Asia, quail are kept in cages as a fighting bird and for the sake of “singing” - a loud current cry.

IN Ancient Egypt the image of a quail was used as a hieroglyph for the sounds “v” and “u”:

IN pre-revolutionary Russia(until 1917) quail was hunted, firstly, as game for food, secondly, as a songbird, and, finally, for organizing quail fights.

The main catching of quail was carried out during May, June and July, mainly in the morning or evening dawn, but only when there was no longer dew. For catching they used a net and pipes or a live female quail. The net was spread over grass or spring crops, and the hunter sat down at the edge opposite to the side from which the cry of the quail was heard, and then began to “beat the pipe,” which imitated the voice of the female quail and consisted of a bone squeak with leather furs attached to it. Instead of using pipes, a live “click” female quail was also placed under the net in a cage, which was certainly a year old and had overwintered in captivity. When a quail, lured by a pipe or a net, came under the net, the hunter stood up, the bird fluttered up and became entangled in the meshes of the net. “Unlured,” that is, not frightened, the birds were extremely bold and, without fear of humans, often jumped under the net onto the cage with the female. Among the caught birds, “fighters” (that is, well-criminating quails) were found very rarely, and to catch them, amateur hunters had special agents who looked for and listened in advance for good screaming quails in the meadows and fields. Calling quails were put in a cage and hung on goldfinches (that is, on a high pole), at the top of which a roof was arranged with a front and back wall, under which the cage was pulled up on a rope. The voice of a good quail could be heard two miles away in calm weather, and even further in the wind. Summer quail hunting began after harvesting grain and continued until departure.

The methods of catching quails were extremely varied: in addition to hunting with rifles and with hawks, common to all small game, quails were caught in special pillowcase nets, the upper edge of which was raised on long light poles. This net was thrown over the quail along with the dog, which made a stand over the quail. In the Turkestan region, quail were caught with a net. In the Caucasus, quails were attracted to guarded nets by fire and the ringing of a bell. In the Crimea, hunters looked for quails that had become obese by the fall, and therefore difficult to lift, on horseback and covered them from the horse with a cone-shaped net. In addition, quails were caught in huge quantities with snares placed in clover and other fields, as well as “saddle nets” stretched, like weights, along the flyway between tall trees, in clearings and gorges. Under the laws in force before 1917, quail hunting was prohibited from March 1 to July 15, with the exception of net hunting for male quail, which was permitted from May 1.

Quail singing

Quails were valued for the voice of the male (“only males scream”, and females only “croak”), which, however, has little resemblance to those sounds that are commonly called singing, and is divided into mamakka (or wow) and scream (or fight). Vavakanye (“va-va”) is usually repeated from one to three times; The cry (“fit-pil-vit”), in hunting, consists of three separate knees: “rise”, “wire” and “low tide”. The Sudzhansky district of the Kursk province was most famous for calling quails; in general, good quails were found throughout the Kursk province, most of the Voronezh province and in some districts of the Oryol, Tula, Tambov and Kharkov provinces.

Quail fights

In Turkestan, fighting (fights) between male quails constituted a kind of Central Asian sport, which many Sarts indulged in with enthusiasm. Owners of fighting quails usually wore them in their bosoms. The arena for the fight, always accompanied by a bet, was large pits along the walls of which spectators were seated.

Classification

The common quail is divided into 8 subspecies:
C. c. africana
C. c. confisa
C. c. conturbans
C. c. coturnix
C. c. erlangeri
C. c. inopinata
C. c. parisii
C. c. ragonierii