DESTRUCTION AND PROTECTION 553 



the report is that many of these young birds received 

 infection either from the hens which hatched them, or 

 from the ground on which they were reared, this 

 ground being a place where poultry had been kept. 

 English pheasants appeared to be more resistant to dis- 

 ease than the grouse and quail. 



During this season most of the eggs laid by the quail 

 were well fertilized, and no quail failed to lay. Four 

 hundred and seventy eggs were laid and 222 hatched. 

 There seemed no advantage in penning the birds with 

 a greater number of females than males, and during 

 the season of 1907, when the birds were paired, results 

 were much more favorable than before. In a number 

 of cases the males were active in caring for the chicks, 

 and in one case a male adopted and reared a clutch of 

 young ones. While in earlier attempts at hatching, 

 much loss was experienced from breakage of eggs by 

 the bantam hens, and while the next year incubators 

 were used, hatching 80 per cent, of the eggs, during 

 the season of 1908 incubators were unsatisfactory, 

 while hens did much better than before, the greater 

 number breaking no eggs at all. In other words, the 

 result of each season shows the importance of more 

 and more experiments on the part of those who have 

 these matters in charge, and as they acquire this experi- 

 ence their success will, of course, be greater. 



The food difficulty remains, but in this matter much 

 also is being learned. 



Like Professor Hodge, Mr. Merrill concludes that 

 there appears to be no advantage of large pens over 



