NESTING OF CALIFORNIAN QUAILS.


By Rosie Alderson.


When a friend of mine, last winter, said to me, ‘Would

yon care for a pair of Californian Quails,’ I at once said ‘Yes,

thank you,’ although I knew I had not very much room to spare ;


‘ Still,’ I thought, ‘ I will find a corner for them somewhere.’

Besides I had an idea that Ouails were purely ground birds, but

in this I made one of many mistakes as you will hear later on.

The little couple duly arrived looking very smart and trim,

especially the cock with his black face sharply lined with white,

and curved crest on the top of his head. I put the new arrivals

into an aviary with a pair of Australian Crested Doves, who

were starting to nest. To my surprise the Quails, instead of

keeping to the ground, began to fly into the branches, and so

disturbed the Doves, that after a time I had to remove them, as

it was evident that the Doves would do no good whilst they were

there. So I took the Quails out, and put them with my small

finches in the heated aviary, but found I had only gone from bad

to worse. The Quails, as before, flew right up into the branches,

and instantly the whole aviary was in confusion. I hoped that

they would soon settle down, but next day, seeing the little birds

were still very frightened, I took the Quails away, feeling rather

unhappy. Why the other birds should be so terrified I don’t

know, for they did not object to large Doves amongst them, but

certain it is the Quails had only to move and the greatest excite¬

ment prevailed amongst the other birds. Finally I put the

Quails in my large dove’s aviary. Here they were very happy ; the

little cock was often heard to crow, and the couple spent most of

their time sitting high up amongst the fir branches that were

wired to the walls. I put them a heap of earth in the shelter,

but though a hole was scratched, and sundry eggs laid away from

the nest, the birds never set to work seriously.


About the middle of June I put the Quails in a duck-house

that was fortunately empty just then. It is between 7ft. and Sft.

long, ft. wide and 2ift. high. About 2^-ft. is boarded off at one

end as a shelter; the rest is wired in front, with a door at the

further end of the front. The roof is of wood, and lifts up

in two parts. I took the door in the front off its hinges, and

fixed in front of the house a run the same length as the house

and 4ft. wide, covered with i-inch wire netting. Some sods

of grass were put in the inner shelter, and here the hen Quail

soon scratched a hollow, and lined it with a few feathers. By

June 25th, she had laid four eggs, and three days later there



