10 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



it had progressed. If the quail had not finished 

 laying or had brooded only a few hours, we carried 

 the eggs to the house, put them in cold water, 

 boiled them for twelve minutes, let them cool in 

 the water, and divided them among the children, 

 as one of the greatest treats possible. No other 

 I ever have tasted was so fine in grain and 

 delicate in flavour. Despite the destruction we 

 must have wrought in a season, the quail were so 

 numerous that it was the custom to build traps 

 of long, fine pieces of wood, covered with leaves, 

 and set with a trigger, baited with grain. A trail 

 of grain led to these traps, where from half a dozen 

 up to twelve and more of the birds frequently 

 imprisoned themselves at one time. The advan- 

 tage over shooting was that the birds were in 

 perfect condition when taken. Now, this seems 

 a dreadful thing to have done, but at that time 

 quail were so plentiful we never could distinguish 

 any dim inn I ion in their numbers, while rabbits 

 and squirrels were pests, which we had to fight 

 to protect our fruit trees and for our comfort. 

 After the cold weather set in at Thanksgiving 

 time, we always had a large supply of frozen 

 quail and rabbits hanging in the smokehouse for 

 a treat upon the arrival of unexpected guests. 

 The only game bird, the protection of which I 

 heard mentioned in my childhood, was the 

 wild pigeon. My father never would allow our 

 i to the pigeon roosts, badle the birds 



