December, 1881. 



AND OOLOGIST. 



75 



which runs between the house and orchard, 

 where he would meet her and eat the wheat 

 that I daily scattered for them, after which 

 they would slowly pick their way down 

 through the orchard. The male keeps a 

 watchful guard over his mate, and on seeing 

 danger utters a quick pit, pit, pit, both 

 starting on a run, the male keeping in the 

 rear to protect and urge on his mate. Af- 

 ter gaining a safe distance, the female takes 

 her dust-bath, when they go to the creek, 

 walking up and down the water's edge — re- 

 turning in a roundabout way to the nest. 

 The male seldom went farther than the 

 road, and we would not see nor hear from 

 him again until the morning's call, between 

 ten and eleven o'clock, when the same 

 meeting and greetings would be renewed. 



The hen Quail was frightened from her 

 nest three different times — the last was two 

 days before she was going to hatch. It was 

 about eight o'clock in the evening, and I 

 was having a wire screen cage placed over 

 the brush, wishing to keep her and her 

 chicks. The brush was disturbed in some 

 way so that she flew out and away to the 

 orchard. As I looked out into the dark 

 ness after her I exclaimed, " That is the 

 last of my Quail hatching." I decided to 

 leave the eggs in the nest over night. In 

 the morning I found her, faithful and de- 

 termmed, on her nest again, proving that 

 disturbing a Quail, either before or while 

 sitting, will not make her forsake her nest. 

 That night I succeeded in getting the cage 

 over her. When the morning ten o'clock 

 call came she left her nest attempting to 

 get out, but seeing the wheat scattered in 

 the cage ate of it, and went back to her 

 nest and eggs as usual. 



The second day the male, after calling 

 and repeating his call many times in vain, 

 came up to see why his mate did not put 

 in her appearance. He walked around the 

 cage uttering his warning call, pit, pit, but 

 in a lower tone than when frightened. She 

 tried to get out, but not succeeding he left. 

 Her uneasiness continuing, I put the eggs 

 under a bantam hen and hatched ten of the 



fourteen eggs. Now comes the part of 

 bird devotion. I put the hen Quail in a 

 large box with wiie screen front, and placed 

 the box where the nest had been the day 

 before, setting a figure-four trap a i&^ feet 

 from it, wishing to catch the male. Not 

 succeeding, I then put in the box another 

 male Quail which I had, thinking compan- 

 ionship would quiet her attempts to get out, 

 which it failed to do. In the morning about 

 four o'clock I was awakened by repeated 

 angry calls of a male Quail. 1 hurried to 

 my window — which was not twenty feet 

 from .the cige — and s^w a male Quail flying 

 and scratching at the wire screen and try- 

 ing to get in. I went out to move the trap 

 in front of the cage, as I saw that would be 

 the only way to catch him. As I went to 

 the cage he flew at me, and madly running 

 around the box would not go away, keeping 

 just beyond my grasp. I moved the trap 

 and when I reached my room I looked from 

 the window and saw the trap down with my 

 bird sate. I put the hen Quail and her 

 mate in the cage by themselves and direct- 

 ly we could see the satisfaction of both. 



Five of the young chicks died, and my 

 son has them as specimens. Four escaped 

 from the cage when three days' old, scud- 

 ding out of sight wi^h the wildness charac- 

 teristic of the Quail. The remaining one 

 we kept until nearly grown, answering the 

 calls of the wild Quail outside when he es- 

 caped. Of one thing my summer's expe- 

 rience convinced me, that our California 

 Quail excels in devotion and sociability not- 

 withstanding its shyness. — C. M. Crowell, 



Haywards, Cat 



»♦• 



Snowy Owl. — Oliver Davie, of Colum- 

 bus, Ohio, reports, under date of Novem- 

 ber 2d, receiving a Snowy Owl, shot near 

 Licking County reservoir the day previous. 

 Dr. J. M. Wharton, State ornithologist, 

 informs him that this is probably the earliest 

 record of this bird being taken in the State 

 of Ohio. It is certainly very early for this 

 bird to start on its southern migration, es- 

 pecially in view of the fact that up to that 

 date there was no indication of winter. 



