THE OOLOGIST. 



When haying-time comes, here in 

 "Southern Michigan, this bird is nesting 

 and the clover tields furnisli a favorite 

 spot for the seclusion of the sitters. The 

 farmer is the quail's best friend, yet, 

 love them as he may, when the clover 

 blossoms in late June, he cannot wait 

 longer. As the swards are raked away 

 hundreds of nests with their top-shaped 

 treasures of pure white, are left exposed 

 to view and these are invariablj^ desert- 

 ed bjT the mother. Then again the heavy 

 machinery makes havoc among the skul- 

 king broods. Where quails are plenty 

 scarcely a hay tield of ten acres but con- 

 tains as many nests, and these are inev- 

 itably destroyed. This fact, together 

 with the ruthless slaughter of the pot- 

 hunter and the severe winters, with lack 

 of shelter in the much cleared districts, 

 renders the outlook for ;>. long continu- 

 ation of this bird in any numbers in the 

 Northern States, a great uncertainty. 



With many nests of eggs exposed 

 €ach year it is a wonder that many 

 more experiments are not carried on 

 with the young in the care of domestic 

 fowls. I have known a young quail, 

 which had in some way been lost from 

 its mother, to follow a hen turkey with 

 her quarter grown brood and actually 

 come at last to roost with them in the 

 barns. The usual " boy with a gun," 

 however finally tiuished it, for its trust 

 in man, with death. 



It was one of these exposed clutches 

 of eggs, thirteen in number, which was 

 brought from the hay Held in a hat and 

 placed underanother bantam hen of the 

 same variety a.s the one which hatched 

 the eggs of the partridge in Part I. The 

 nest in which these eggs were placed 

 was in the top of a barrel, nearly tilled 

 with straw, over which a cover was 

 placed to prevent the hen from leaving 

 the nest until accustomed to the new 

 position, where she was supposed to 

 have a long term of sitting ere the little 

 ones appeared. 



Upon the very next morning I went 



to the barrel and removed the cover to 

 feed the hen. 1 did not find things in 

 the condition iu which I had expected 

 they would be. There, in that nest, I 

 beheld as pretty a sight as has ever been 

 my pleasure to see. Every one of those 

 thirteen eggs had hatched during the 

 night and as many little, downy balls, 

 about the size ot buml)le bees, were sit- 

 ting about in the yellow straw and upon 

 the hen's back and were a picture of 

 contentment and activity. 



Some crumb.^ of bread were placed 

 before them and all ate readily. They 

 seemed determined to have a taste of 

 the hen's eyes; one after another would 

 jump at them and also at her wattles 

 and ear-lobes. They learned the mean- 

 ing of all the ''sitting hen" lore before 

 they were taken from the nest and were 

 avS domestic as common chicks. A sud- 

 den move however, on my part or a 

 warning note from the hen would cause 

 all to skulk into the straw almost invol- 

 untarily, where all would remain mo- 

 tionless for a great length of time if 

 continued disturbance followed. 



The mother and her brood were re- 

 moved to a vegetable garden where 

 they were at once set at liberty. One 

 of the little fellows strayed too far a va3' 

 and was picked up by a favorite cat, — 

 a very conscientious cat too, but she 

 was attracted by the peculiar skulking 

 run of the young bird, which looked 

 much like a mouse as it slipped about 

 among the herbage. The cats soon 

 learned to regard them as ordinay chick- 

 ens, and no more were molested for a 

 long time. And so they continued to 

 thrive and grow tame until iinally they 

 would approach and be fed as would a 

 brood of chickens. In fact they were 

 more tame than the hen, the latter becom- 

 i jg more suspicious each day .She seemed 

 to realize that in them she was rearing 

 a brood of very different natures than 

 any previous, and she was perplexed 

 and ill at ease. The quick moves of the 

 little Quails, the elastic springs, the in- 



