BIRD NEWS 



RAISING CALIFORNIA VALLEY^ 

 QUAIL. 



(W. N. Dirks, Alameda). 

 So much enthusiasm has been 

 shown over the success that I have 

 had in raising and taming this game 

 and beautiful bird, that I will try 

 and have the readers of BIRD NEWS 

 become better acquainted with him. 

 A few years ago, while picking 

 wild blackberries, I flushed a hen 

 quail, and as I knew it was nesting 

 time, I looked around until I discov- 

 ered her nest, containing twelve eggs, 

 at the edge of some old brush. After 

 marking the place, I continued my 

 berry picking. When we were 

 through with our lunch I told my 

 father-in-law of my find, and asked 

 him if it would be advisable for me 

 to take the eggs to town and set 

 them under a hen? He advised me 

 to go to the nest later on, and if 

 the quail was there not to take the 

 eggs as she would be hatching, other- 

 wise for me to take them and try 

 my luck. I went back with another 

 young fellow and we found the little 

 hen there alright. She did not move 

 until we had almost stepped on her, 

 but when she did move you should 

 have seen the fun. One dozen little 

 yellowish-brown bunches of feathers 

 scattered in all directions. I clutched 

 at the nest, and on emptying my 

 hand in my hat I found that I had 

 five chicks. The little mother kept 

 up a constant warning cry and not 

 a sight or sound of the other seven 

 did we get, but we knew that as 

 the little fellows were not yet dry, 

 they would soon become cold and 

 would not be able to suppress their 

 little peep-peep, and that of course 

 would give us our clue. We cap- 

 tured them at last and started for 

 town with them all wrapped in cot- 

 ton. 



On reaching home we found all 

 of the poor little things stiffened 



out just like dead. We at once made 

 a fire and put them in the oven. 

 Ten of them came back to life and 

 I had the good fortune to get a 

 setting bantam hen from a neighor, 

 and we put the survivors under her. 

 After reducing the number by peck- 

 ing two to death and stepping upon 

 three, she finally raised five. It was 

 a very sad parting for both foster- 

 mother and the young quail when 

 we sent the latter back to her home. 

 The first year I did not attempt 

 to raise any as the five I had raised 

 were all ot the gentler sex. Last 

 year, after getting a few males, I 

 built a cage about twenty-five feet 

 in circumference around a hollow 

 oak in our back yard. All of the 

 hens laid very freely. I sat thirty- 

 three eggs under one bantam in the 

 cage, and the quail did not seem 

 to mind its presence in the least. 

 Quite the contrary in the case of a 

 rooster that I had crippled while 

 hunting and captured with a dog. He 

 would perch on the edge of the hen's 

 nest and just as soon as she would 

 get up to eat, he would hop down 

 and do his best to cover all the 

 eggs, and tne hen had to forcibly 

 eject him on her return. This oc- 

 curred right along until I took the 

 hen out and put her in a corner of 

 the yard. She brought out all but 

 three, and it was quite a sight to 

 see the little fellows scratch and run 

 to the hen at her call. 



After hatching over one hundred 

 birds, I raised only eleven. I held 

 a post-mortem examination and dis- 

 covered that each bird had a peculiar 

 organic ailment that affected the in- 

 testines and would not allow them to 

 properly digest their food. I called 

 on Mr. M. J. Geary, Editor of "West- 

 ern Graphic," and after discussing 

 the subject we came to the conclusion 

 that the alarming scarcity of quail 

 last year was due to this disease 



