THE QUAIL 



We did not know just how many of the twenty-three days of 

 incubation had passed before Gypsy found the nest, but when we 

 thought the time for the brood to emerge was close I was on hand 

 and ready. A three days' wait made me careless, and the follow- 

 ing day I did not reach the lease until nine o'clock. The tailpiece 

 of this chapter shows what I got for my pains. Not much, you 

 think? 



That one little picture for ever settles two questions long in 

 dispute concerning the Quail. Many writers will contend that 

 young Quail remain in the nest some time after they emerge. 

 They go before they are thoroughly dry and feed themselves 

 from the start. The proud father, with head feathers flared to 

 a crest and hackle bristling, leads the way, the young follow, 

 the mother brings up the rear. When either old bird sights a 

 morsel fit for the young to eat it calls the chicks about it and with 

 its bill indicates what is to be eaten, often breaking it up so that 

 as many as possible shall get a bite. The young had left this nest 

 so soon after hatching that the shells were warm, and flies and 

 ants were gathering over them, attracted by tiny bloodvessels in 

 the lining. 



/Also these shells proved beyond question that the mother had 

 gone over each egg at time for emergence and with her sharp, 

 strong bill cut the shell and lining in halves, releasing the young. 

 I had been contradicted so frequently on this statement that I 

 had quit making it, until this nest of shells was found. They 

 clearly show that the work is done from the outside, as a deep rim 

 is bent in, the lining cut instead of torn, and each shell divided 

 exactly in halves.) 



There was pleasure in proving this point long defended, but 

 I bewailed those babies. So to comfort me Bob said we would 

 search along the river and perhaps we could find them. Neither 



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