NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



war against those two hostile armies — the weeds and 

 insects. 



These species of birds are of far greater value to a 

 farmer alive and out on his lands, than in the pot. 



Of all the game birds the quail is the best weed 

 destroyer. The quail is ranked in the first class among 

 birds which are useful to man. . Some authorities con- 

 sider it is more useful than any other bird. During 

 the spring and summer months it wages a terrible 

 war on insects and their larvae. With unerring 

 instinct it seeks out their hiding places, and with 

 beak and claws exposes them to view. Morning 

 and evening it is busy hunting these pests in the 

 cultivated fields and pasturage. 



Quails feed greedily on insects so long as they are 

 plentiful, and only resort to a diet of grass and weed 

 seeds when insects are scarce. The quail works for 

 the farmer right royally against the insect hordes, 

 from the time the crops are sown in the spring until 

 they are reaped in the autumn. When the fertile 

 male and female termites (white ants) fall to the 

 ground and meet to found a new colony the quail 

 seeks them out and devours them. 



As winter approaches insects become increasingly 

 scarce, and the quail then sustains itself almost and 

 often entirely on the seeds of weeds. The seeds of 

 several species of the most rapidly growing and 

 obnoxious weeds are eaten greedily by the quail. 

 This bird breeds during the spring and summer time, 

 and lays from six to a dozen eggs. The chicks are 

 active from birth, like those of the domestic fowl, 



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