548 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



in his cage. It is evident, therefore, that a cage 3 by 6 

 feet is not too small for quail to do well in; a fact 

 of interest, for it renders the work of experimenting 

 in this matter practicable for almost anyone. 



Some temperatures of these birds were taken, and 

 it was found that the interior body temperature of a 

 brooding male bobwhite was no less than 1 1 1 degrees 

 remarkably high. The brooding quail gives the eggs 

 rather long periods of cooling once or twice a day. 

 The records thus seem to suggest for incubators a 

 temperature one or two degrees higher for quail than 

 for domestic fowls. It has been noted also that the 

 chicks of the ruffed grouse and the quail seem to thrive 

 much better when the brooders are kept much warmer 

 than is advised in the directions for domestic chickens. 

 This is necessary, apparently, only for the first ten 

 days or two weeks, but for that time it seems well 

 to keep the temperature five degrees higher than re- 

 quired for domestic fowl. The conclusion thus reached 

 was confirmed by an experience in September when, of 

 68 chicks in brooders, 24 died in two days. 



Professor Hodge's explanation of the "brooder 

 troubles," which have caused the death of so many 

 apparently healthy birds, seems wholly plausible. He 

 regards these troubles as acute indigestion and sug- 

 gests a remedy. He gives elaborate directions for feed- 

 ing, lays an especial stress on lining brooders, which 

 should have no chinks or cracks into which one of these 

 tiny birds may creep, on keeping them free from in- 

 fection from domestic fowls, and on giving the birds 



