9 6 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



An Account of our Experiment in 

 Propagating Quails. 



BY REV. HERBERT K. JOB, STATE ORNI- 

 THOLOGIST, WEST HAVEN, CONNECTI- 

 CUT. 



As I believe that an account of this 

 experiment will be of interest, the fol- 



YOUNG QUAIL FEEDING— SEVEN WEEKS OLD. 

 By courtesy of The Outing Publishing Company. 



lowing is issued for the public and the 

 sportsmen of Connecticut. 



We did not succeed, during this first 

 season, in raising a stock of young for 

 distribution, but every stage of the pro- 

 cess was successful until a deadly dis- 

 ease appeared among the birds when 

 they were nearly mature. But the pros- 

 pects of future success are far brighter 

 than ever before. 



The experiment was conducted at 

 the Connecticut Agricultural College, 

 with an average of thirty pairs of our 

 bobwhite quail. The first result was 

 the perfecting of the details of a suc- 

 cessful breeding system, by which even 

 the wildest stock will breed abundantly 

 in confinement. Most of our birds 

 were thoroughly wild. Though we lost 

 the best part of the breeding season 

 through a late start, these thirty pairs 

 produced six hundred and ninety-three 

 eggs. Our banner quail laid seventy- 



three eggs, the next fifty. Only one 

 hen quail failed to lay. The average 

 was twenty-three eggs per pair. The 

 fertility was ninety per cent. The sys- 

 tem is simple and practicable. 



The second result is a successful 

 hatching system. After preliminary 

 tests, the hatches were usually more 

 than eighty per cent, and ran as high 

 as ninety-five per cent, which poultry- 

 men will agree is not bad. 



A third result is that an immense 

 amount of detail as to the care and 

 handling of the quails has been mas- 

 tered. We wish to continue an elab- 

 orate series of scientific feeding tests, 

 with a view to the forestalling of dis- 

 ease. We have worked out a promis- 

 ing system for game preserves which 

 we desire to test in detail during the 

 coming season. The quail chicks are 

 beautiful and docile, and seem amen- 

 able to artificial conditions and man- 

 agement. 



A fourth series of results, of funda- 

 mental importance, is in the line of ex- 

 perimental work on quail diseases. 

 Professor L. F. Rettger, the bacte- 



A GROUP IN MAIN PEN OF QUAILS DONATED 



BY MR. HOWELL. 



By courtesy of The Outing Publishing Company. 



