1914] The Ottawa Naturalist. 12 5 



and, it is said, should the better half be taken awa}', never 

 remarries. A hen quail just outside the Oakland house fence 

 was eaten by a rattlesnake. The cock remained there, single, 

 two seasons, although charmers in quantity piped their notes 

 a few hundred feet away. 



An abundance of quail in a suitable country depends on 

 four main factors — food, cover, water and, probably, grit. 

 This last is important only in a delta section like Oaklands, 

 where a morning search after a pebble for rasping a turkey 

 call ended in breaking up a scythe stone; and food might 

 perhaps be modified to winter food. Bevies with us do not 

 break up before Mav, and they find then a plentitude of grass 

 and insects everywhere. During the winter months in the 

 south, quail live principally on pine mast, but lespedeza, ','benny" 

 wild helianthus, in fact any suitable sized weed seed, is acceptable 



On plantations lately grazed by cattle, birds practically 

 disappear — no cover. 



Quail can stand a short cold spell, with snow, better than 

 many other genera. They roost always in a close circle, heads 

 out, in patches of low stubble, and remain there, dormant, 

 until the weather improves or starvation scatters them. 



Artificially increasing stock is a facinating but little under- 

 stood subject. It is only within a year or so that hatching in 

 confinement has succeeded at all. The mere dumping of tinmated 

 birds in pairs or quantity seems a waste of time. At Camden 

 thousands of quail were imported from the west without per- 

 manent results, and we ourselves have often tried the thing on 

 a smaller scale. 



Beyond dispute, at the beginning of the breeding season, 

 the strongest cock left by the sportsmen drives away all rivals, 

 whistles a mate provided he is a young bird, and then, with the 

 tenacity of the anglo-saxon, pre-empts such territorv, be it 

 one or twenty acres, as seems necessary for the welfare of his 

 family, defending this while life lasts against all trespassers. 

 The writer firmly believes that by judicious planting and observ- 

 ance of the other conditions, his majesty will be contented 

 with merely enough land to secure happiness, leaving the extra 

 room gained for new comers. But much better authorities 

 say not, he wants what his father, grandfather, and great 

 grandfather owned. Certainly at the Oakland Club we find, 

 year after year, only the same bevies, though food has been 

 provided, vermin trapped and a breeding stock carefullv pre- 

 served. 



What comes of the vast surplus thtis driven away is an 

 enigma. Quail are undoubtedly migratory in the small isotherms 

 between northern and sub-tem])erate regions. Probably 



