124 THE QUAIL. 



The female differs in having the chin and sides of the 

 head yellowish browfi, in which dress it has been described 

 as a different kind. There is, however, only one species 

 of Quail at present known within the United States.* 



The following account of an attempt made by a gentle- 

 man in Boston, to domesticate the Quail, may not be un- 

 interesting to many of the readers of the History. 



He says : " I had been passing a few weeks in the 

 country, about fifteen miles from this city, and was out one 

 morning in pursuit of woodcock, when my dog came upon 

 a dead point, in an open meadow, upon a bird not twelve 

 feet beyond him. Surprised at the apparent lameness or 

 stupidity of the bird, I approached with a view of taking it, 

 if possible, alive ; and I was able to advance within about 

 six feet of her, before she flew. I then perceived it was a 

 Quail upon her nest, which contained fifteen young, appa- 

 rently not more than a day old. I thought this would be 

 an excellent opportunity of making an experiment I had 

 long wished for of domesticating the Quail ; and, there- 

 fore, notwithstanding my compunctions of conscience in 

 thus bereaving the distressed mother of her offspring, I 

 took them up, nest and all, and carried them home, ac- 

 companied by their mother, who was continually uttering 

 the most violent outcries, as if to reproach me with my 

 cruelty. When I arrived at home, I put the nest, with all 

 its contents, in a large cage, and suspended it from a limb 

 of an apple tree, out of the way of cats and other enemies 

 of the feathered tribe. I then retired to a distance, 

 leaving the door of the cage open, for the purpose of ob- 

 serving whether the mother would enter to feed her young, 

 or desert them entirely. The moment I was out of sight, 

 she flew on the top of the cage, looking down through the 

 wires with the greatest apparent agony, and making every 

 attempt to get through : at last, having succeeded in find- 

 ing the door, she entered, and, having caressed them for a 

 few moments, she flew off for food, but soon. returned r and 



