Quails. 75 



diet of seed and green food, and most of them are not particularly 

 quarrelsome. I should not be disposed, however, to keep either 

 Bush Quails or Californian Quails with other species of the 

 smaller ground birds, though I have not found any of the others 

 to be particularly aggressive if kept in a large enough enclosure. 

 The only difficulty in keeping more than one species of the same 

 genus, say of Cohiniix in the same aviary is that cross-breeding 

 may occur, if say a pair of the Indian Rain Quails and a pair 

 of African Harlequins are kept together. 



Quails commence pairing about April, but do not, as a 

 rule, go to nest until the grass is well grown. Then the cock is 

 very busy, uttering his shrill call-note and selecting sites for the 

 nest which he tries to persuade his mate to adopt. The site 

 finally selected is generally under a tuft of coarse grass which 

 is cleverly concealed by the blades being drawn down to form a 

 dome. The number of eggs to a clutch varies with the species, 

 but six or seven is the usual number for the smaller species, 

 while the Californian Quail often lays considerably more. In- 

 cubation is performed by the female only, and occupies from 

 sixteen to twenty days according to the species. Young Quails 

 when first hatched are extremely beautiful little things, resem- 

 bling miniature partridge chicks. They remain in the nest with 

 the mother for about the first twenty-four hours, after which 

 they follow her away into the grass. 



This is a critical time for the chicks, for should there be 

 any weakly ones they may be left behind, when they soon perish. 



A plan adopted by the writer some years ago for rearing 

 young Quails proved very successful. A run, about six feet long 

 by four feet wide and twelve inches high was made, the sides 

 close boarded, but the top of wire netting, one end was hinged at 

 the top so as to allow of the Quail and her brood being driven in. 

 Part of the top was made to open for feeding. Leafy branches 

 were placed over part of this run, and a slieet of corrugated iron 

 kept in readiness to be placed over in case of heavy rain. Care 

 was taken that the run was placed on good turf iti a dry situation. 



Into such a run the hen Quail with her brood is driven 

 as soon after they leave the nest as possible. Ants' nests are 

 searched for and dug up (enough can usually be found in any 



