A Future Covey of Quail. 



Southern farms the birds easily are kept plentiful. A game 

 keeper once asked me, as with good dogs we strolled over his 

 grounds, where thousands of quail had just been shot, if I did 

 not think he had too many birds. Undoubtedly he had and 

 his decision to "thin them out" before the breeding season was 

 correct. I regretted that the birds lost in the "thinning" 

 process could not be legally marketed for either propagation or 

 as food. Soon, however, I predict there will be many commer- 

 cial game farms in the South and they surely will make a lot of 

 money until the business is overdone. 



Many experiments have been made with the artificial breed- 

 ing of bob-whites. The birds lay, even in small pens, and 

 although it is generally believed that the males and females 

 have decided preferences in the selection of their mates, pairs 

 have been arbitrarily mated, often, and the hens usually lay 

 fertile eggs, and persist in laying when the eggs are stolen. 

 Mr. Herbert Job secured over seventy eggs from one quail 

 and the Massachusetts Commission secured over a hundred 

 eggs from one. Several times as many eggs as are laid in a 

 wild state can be counted on, and artificial breeding would 

 seem to be inviting to sportsmen and to commercial game 

 farmers. But the experiments thus far have resulted in many 

 losses of young birds by diseases and no one has succeeded in 

 producing large numbers of good healthy quail. 



The hand-rearing of these birds is not necessary, since quickly 

 and inexpensively they can be made to swarm on protected 

 areas, when breeding wild, and wild bred birds are the best for 

 sport and for food. I am inclined to predict that in America 

 as in England and on the continent of Europe, the artificial 



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