THE QUAIL. 119 



judgment of the bird, but a severe satire on man. The 

 affectionate mother, as if sensible of the avaricious cruelty 

 of his nature, tempts him with a larger prize, to save her 

 more helpless offspring; and pays him, as avarice and 

 cruelty ought always to be paid, with mortification and 

 disappointment. 



The eggs of the Quail have been frequently placed un- 

 der the domestic hen, and hatched and reared with equal 

 success as her own ; though, generally speaking, the young 

 quails, being more restless and vagrant, often lose them- 

 selves, and disappear. The hen ought to be a particularly 

 good nurse, not at all disposed to ramble, in which case 

 they are very easily raised. Those that survive acquire 

 all the familiarity of common chickens ; and there is little 

 doubt, that if proper measures were taken, and persevered 

 in for a few years, that they might be completely domes- 

 ticated. These birds have been often kept during the 

 first season, and through the whole of the winter, but have 

 uniformly deserted in the spring. Two young quails that 

 were brought up by a hen, when abandoned by her, asso- 

 ciated with the cows, which they regularly followed to the 

 fields, returned with them when they came home ki the 

 evening, stood by them while they were milked, and again 

 accompanied them to the pasture. These remained during 

 the winter, lodging in the stable, but as soon as spring 

 came, they disappeared. 



It has been frequently asserted, that the Quails lay oc- 

 casionally in each other's nests. This is not altogether 

 improbable, from the fact, that they have often been known 

 to drop their eggs in the nest of the common hen, when that 

 happened to be in the fields, or at a small distance from 

 the house. The two Quails above mentioned were raised 

 in this manner ; and it was particularly remarked (by the 

 lady who gave the information,) that the hen sat for 

 several days after her own eggs were hatched, until the 

 young Quails made their appearance. 



