I'KUDIcrn.K-TlIL' I'AKTUIIXJES. 4yg 



Mr. Au.lul...,, .staU.,s that ut tl>o Wc-.sl thi.s Mnl pcTfoms uccu.si.,nal nu- 

 gniliuMs t„wanl.s llu- «..uihou«l in ihu,\m; in tl.o maimer .,1' tl.o Wild Tur- 

 ivoy; but I ..anuot iiiKl tliat otliurs l,avu iioUcmI ll,is ..(•(•unviict. r.i the 

 SnulhenuuHl WcsUth Stal.s, .Im.,v tl.is s,,oci.H is very i.let.tin.i; thev are 

 taken m nn.nense nutul.Ts in lar,.- nets, into wind, tl.ey are cauti,.u,sly and 

 slowly driven l>v a party i.f inuiLer.s. 



This si.ecie« with proper pains, n.ay I.e easily raised in cniinonu-nt, ir 

 dueedU. breed, and trained into a cund.tio,, „f paHia] don.osticatiun. K'ov 

 i)r. Laehnnu. of Charleston, S. ( •. , .n,,,eded in ubtaininj,, bv hatehinK 

 under a l.,ntant Hen, a brood of young (,)uails. Cunfini.,,. then.'with their 

 loster-niother lor a lew days, they were soon tan-ht to follow her like v.,un- 

 chickens, n.ey were fed at (irst on curds, but soon be^ran to oat cnicked 

 Indian-eorn an,l millet. They were i-ermitteil to stray at lar-^e in the 

 garden, one wing of eaeh having been shortene.I. They became very 

 gentle, and were in the habit „r iullnwing Dr. J5avhnian throu-di his house 

 seating themselves on the table at which he was writing, occasionally, in' 

 play, pecking at his hands or running oil' with his pen. At ni-ht thov 

 nestled in a coo,, in the ganlen. Although these pets had no opportunit'v 

 ot hearing any other .sounds than those of the poultrv, the male binls com- 

 menced in the spring their not unmusical note of B„lj.>r/u/r, at first low but 

 increasing ,n lomlness, until th.y were heanl through the whole neighbor- 

 iioud. llieir notes wore j.recisely like those of the wild birds. As the 

 spring advanced the males became very pugnacious, and continued contests 

 took place among them.selves, as w.-ll as with the I'ige.ms and the poultry 

 aat mtrudeil on their premi.ses. Tia-ir eggs were j.laced under a Hen and 

 hatched out. The experiment went no further, but was ciuito sullicient to 

 demonstrate the p(jssibility of their domestication. 



Wilson relates that in one instance a female of this species set upcn an.l 

 hatched out tlie eggs of the common Hen. For seveml weeks after, his in- 

 formant occasionally surprised lier in various ,.arts of the plantation witii 

 her brood of chickens, on which occasion she e.vhil)ited every in<lication of 

 distress and alarm, and ])ractised her usual maiianivres for their preservation. 

 She continued to lead them about until they were larger than herself, and 

 their mannors had all the shyness and timidity and alarm of young (,)ua(l,s. 



Mr. Allen states (Am. Xat., July, 1872) that this species has been recently 

 introduced into the (iveiit Salt Lake X'alley, and in 1871 was giving i.romise 

 of multil^lying rapidly and becoming thoroughly naturalized, young birds 

 having been raised in the summer of 1871. 



The eggs of this species are of a pure, brilliant white color, shaq.ly pointed 

 at one end, and obtusely rounded at the other. They average about 1.35 

 inches in length by one inch in breadth. 



vDi,. III. 60 



