REPORT OF THE PISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



125 



heat-giving device. With a coal oil brooder the flame can not, with 

 safety, be carried high enough to supply sufficient heat to the quail 

 three inches below the bulb of the thermometer, which is set to register 

 the temperature suitable to the chicken. To partly offset this condition 

 we have raised the floor with burlap padding, bringing the birds closer 

 to the heater. Quail themselves can best care for the chicks, but they 

 must be penned up in individual cages made of small mesh wire and 

 not be disturbed in order to have them successfully raise their own 

 broods. Since this method is expensive and but few birds can be 

 reared, it is probable that rearing quail for the market will never 

 become a paying proposition. The only feasible plan that presents 



Fig. 73. Canada geese at State Game Farm. Photograph by Theodore Kytka. 



itself to conserve this bird is to locate a game farm in natural quail 

 territory, absolutely protect the birds, and when the increase warrants 

 it, trap and ship them to depleted localities. The future existence of 

 this very desirable bird demands that steps be taken toward this end 

 in the near future. 



Ducks. 



From the modest number of three ducks, we have gradually accumu- 

 lated, through trapping, taking eggs in the marshes and through the 

 increase of our own stock, several hundred ducks. Fourteen varieties 

 are represented which, with four varieties of geese and a number of 

 coots, make an excellent collection of waterfowl. During the season 

 of 1915 several mallard hens nested and successfully reared broods, 

 taking the young ducks on the pond as soon as they were sufficiently 

 dry. Our one cinnamon teal hen also nested and hatched nine young, 

 but did not rear a single bird. During the prasent season, out of a 

 total of twenty-six mallards nesting, the average of eggs was only five. 



