CHAPTEE IX. 



QUAILS. 



Quails — The California quail — General sketch — Its haunts and habits — 

 Best time for shootiiig it — Quail dogs — Uninjured birds attack the 

 cripples — The Valley, or meadow quail — Its haunts, habits, and 

 color — Is very prolific — Vast numbers poisoned in California — 

 Very destrcutive to green crops — Pack in September — Its faults 

 as a game bird— The best method of bagging it — Quail traps — 

 Average weight of quail — Gambel's partridge, or Arizona quail — 

 Its haunts and habits — Moults twice a year — The blue colin, or 

 scaly partridge — Its haunts and habits— The Massina quail — Gen- 

 eral sketch — The migratory quail — The best way of releasing 

 bevies — The Virginia quail, or Bob White — Its range and colors — 

 The Florida and Texas varieties— Nests and eggs — Cautious chicks 

 — Tricks of the mother to guard her young — Quail associate wilh 

 barn-yard fowl and breed in confinement — Affectionate males — 

 Food — Favorite feeding grounds — Their resorts in fine, rainy, and 

 snowy weather — They double like a hare— The " running " sea- 

 son — Their mode of sleeping — Their enemies — The best season for 

 quail shooting — Do quails withhold their scent — Abundance in the 

 West — Large bags — Easily killed in the early portion of the sea- 

 son — Charge for a gun— Best guns for shooting them— A trip after 

 quail in Nebraska — The penalty for missing a bird — A martyr to 

 duty — The best side of a hedge in quail shooting — A pot shot — 

 Why prairie wolves howl — A poetic effusion — Success of our trip 

 — How to feed dogs on a shooting expedition. 



The sub-family Odontopliorince, to which quails belong, 

 has a large number of representatives on the American 

 Continent, about forty species in all, but the majority of 

 these are confined to Mexico and Central and South 

 America, there being only six species and two varieties in 

 the United States. All are pretty, and some are very 

 handsome, especially those found in the regions adjoin- 

 ing the Pacific Ocean. 



The California quail {Oreortyx pidus), which is also 

 known as the plumed and the mountain quail, is the hand- 

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