46 



THE OOLOGIST 



— MiGKATORY Quail. — A correspou- 

 dent I'u Forest and Stream, writing from 

 Kennebuuk, Maine, iifter stilting that tliey 

 had received their Quota of (Juail, and 

 turning them down in suitable places, etc., 

 continues as follows : — 'J'lie Quail nested 

 quite soon after they were released, and 

 have laid iVom eight to ten eggs in nests 

 that have been dij^covered ; in some cases 

 they have already hatched, and out of the 

 nest ; some are still on the nest. There 

 has been but one case of loss that come to 

 my knowledge, that of a bird being run 

 over by a mowing machine while on the 

 nest covering ten eggs. . You can hear 

 them at most any time in the day, but to 

 see them is quite another thing ; yet I 

 have heard of their coming about the 

 buildings of farmers and feeding. Al- 

 though some of the birds nave wandered 

 long distances from where they were re- 

 leased, yet they seem to have generally re- 

 mained near the localities Avhere they were 

 turned loose. 



— We were interested a short time since 

 in the persistency of a House-Sparrow, in 

 stealing food from a Robin. The latter 

 had captured a goodly worm, and had no 

 sooner flown down to the pavement withi t, 

 preparatory to making a meal of it, when 2 

 Sparrows, seeing a chance to get a tit-bit 

 gave chase to Mr. Robin, the latter flew 

 away a short distance and began anew to 

 dash the worm against the stones, and 

 again the Sparrows rushed in, nearly get- 

 ting their booty. This went on some lit- 

 tle time, the Robin making no resistence, 

 until, finally, Passer Domesticus quickly 

 snatched the now pretty well prepared 

 worm, and flew ofl" with it, leaving the 

 original captor somewhat astonished and 

 at liberty to seek another worm, if he 

 wanted one. The shrill voices of the Spar- 

 rows from the direction the little robber 

 took, announced a still disputed possession 

 of the worm, 



— Does the Song-Sparrow eat buds ? A 

 short time ago, during the Spring, we no- 



ticed two of these birds hai'd at work upon 

 the newly forming leaves of an elm tree. 

 They apparently ate the buds with great 

 relish, and continued to do so for a con- 

 siderable length of time. It was too ear- 

 ly for insects, and even if it were not, the 

 fact of their taking each bud nearest to 

 them, pointed out no selection, as would 

 have been the case were they searching for 

 insects. 



— Among other birds easily allured by 

 tha call of a little bird in distress, Unin. 

 otilto varia. It will flutter about within 

 almost arms length of the slightest intima- 

 tion of danger to a fellow being, and 

 what a little colony one can bring to him 

 in this way, too, sometimes ! Redstarts 

 are not allured in this way, but they set 

 down, utter any note, but look passively 

 on as if doubtful of the autenticity of the 

 grief. 



— A Jersey Quail Makufactory. — 

 Henry Benbrook, a dealer in game, resid- 

 ing at Raritan, N. J., has succeeded in 

 raising young Quails, an operation that 

 has been tried repeatedly, but which hith- 

 erto has proved futile. Four years ago he 

 captured two Quails. The female laid 

 twenty-four eggs the first year, but cou'd 

 not be induced to sit. The second year 

 Mr. Benbrook was in Canada and nothing 

 was done with the birds. The third year 

 the female made its nest, laid twelve eggs 

 and after setting ten days, died. The 

 male bird then sat on the eggs and six 

 Quails were hatched. They were all rais- 

 ed and are still living. These young birds 

 began laying on May 21 "last and up to 

 July 31 have laid one hundred and eight 

 eggs, but they show no signs of sitting as 

 yet. Some of the eggs were pjaced under 

 abantam chicken and six of them hatch- 

 ed, and the Quails are alive to-day. This 

 experiment of raising young Quails has 

 been undertaken by game societies all over 

 the world for years, but this is the first 

 time any one has succeeded, so far as the 

 record shows. — -A^. Y. Times. 



