BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. . 157 
ply are not yet developed. Of course during the late autumn, 
winter and early spring, they depend upon seeds, grain and 
buds, out only the unavoidable waste of the farm and garden. 
During these seasons, if possible, they should have the great- 
est measure of legal protection against hunters and trappers, 
for then must they become most available to them, being 
driven by the necessities of food to the vicinity of outhouses, 
barns, straw-stacks and dwellings. Their habits at the dif- 
ferent seasons of the year afford one of the most interesting 
studies of birdlife. Protect them and they rapidly become 
tame and confiding. 
In my early boyhood in western New York, I was led to 
habits of observation of birds in winter, by this species more 
than any other. Following the example of older observers, 
whose interest was not as disingenuous as mine, I often 
caught several of them at a time in a lath-trap of the figure 
four kind, and in a few hours had them sufficiently domesticated 
to eat freely of corn and wheat dropped down to them through 
the slats, and within a week, upon setting them free, instead of 
flying away never to return they were afterwards to be seen 
daily feeding amongst the hens and the cattle in the barnyard. 
Iam happy to say that I never permitted my love for ‘‘quail 
on toast” to appropriate one these who had thus confided in me. 
It seems to be superfluous to give any specific description 
of this bird, yet for those whose opportunities have been less 
favorable, from having long resided so far north where the 
circumstances have been unfortunate for their multiplication, 
I will say that the Quail measures about 10 inches in length; 
the wing, 4.70; and tail 2.85. Their color is a bright reddish- 
brown, streaked frequently with black, shading into gray. 
The under parts are white with zigzag lines of black crosswise. 
The throat of the male is much whiter than that of the female. 
It is found in the middle and western states, including Canada 
West and Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains. 
I have learned from Rev. Mr. Gear, who was an army chap- 
lain, stationed at several fortifications from time to time in the 
earliest history of Minnesota, that there were no Quails here 
until imported and set at liberty by the sportsmen amongst 
the army officials on different occasions, but the want of food 
and covert in severe winters prevented their material increase 
in numbers until the advent of general farming. 
Only one or two fiocks have yet been seen as far north as 
Red Lake Falls and at afew points in the latitude of Otter Tail. 
