QUAIL PROPAGATION METHODS 33 



her second set. Something about the artificial conditions 

 weakens the maternal instinct, the mere production of eggs 

 being more nearly automatic. Probably in a good large 

 enclosure the quail would generally incubate her own eggs. 

 In my experiments the maximum number of eggs laid by one 

 quail in a season was seventy-three. This was surpassed in 

 the Massachusetts experiments, where one hundred and one 

 hundred and two were secured from one bird. 



Taking Eggs. It is well not to disturb the birds by fre- 

 quent search for eggs. About once a week will answer. 

 Avoid entering the small pen, but search each brush-pile 

 from the door near it, and leave a couple of the freshest- 

 looking eggs in the nest to encourage further laying. Some 

 eggs, especially at first, may be dropped at random on the 

 ground. Mark the eggs as taken with number of pen 

 and the date, and keep careful record of all details, which 

 will prove interesting and valuable. Keep the eggs in bran 

 or sawdust, not on the side, but on end, in a fairly cool 

 place, and turn them each day, the other end up. 



Setting Eggs. By all means use hens, and not incubators. 

 For quails it is necessary to have bantams, as ordinary hens 

 crush the fragile eggs. Buff cochins are in most general uses 

 but silkies and white cochins are just as good. Some keepers 

 recommend Seabrights, which are very light, without the 

 clumsy feathering on the legs, and later range farther with 

 the young, getting them more food. Some of them, though, 

 are rather wild and make the young so. Cochins and silkies 

 are sluggish, and the young are more likely to outstrip them. 

 However, where there are a number of broods, it is often best 

 to keep the hens shut up much of the time, and these are 

 better content and quiet. Besides, the cochins and silkies 

 cover more eggs. 



Set on Ground. In setting quail eggs, it is much better 



