CHAPTER NINE 



QUAIL AND WILD DUCK 



QUAIL as pets, or for market, are most sat- 

 isfactory birds. I was only about nine years 

 old when a friend of my father's brought me 

 two little ones. At first they were very shy, 

 and would not feed, so a mash of corn meal, 

 well cooked, mixed with hemp seed, and moist- 

 ened with raw egg, was pushed down their 

 throats with the aid of a small stick about 

 every two hours. After a week they com- 

 menced to pick from my fingers, and nestle 

 into my hands, as contentedly as if it were 

 their nest. 



One poor little fellow was accidentally killed, 

 but the other, Bobby, lived, grew, and became 

 one of my army of pets, sleeping in a small 

 dog kennel in the front garden, and trotting 



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