NOTES ON THE NESTING OF THE CHINESE QUAIL


Sir, — I am not aware that an}' of the "Painted" Quails have been

bred in England ; I had hoped to be able to record the fact of having bred

the common species, E. chinensis, myself, but unfortunatel}' one of those

slips twixt the cup and lip, which so often happen with aviculturists, has-

prevented my success, although I now possess, preserved in spirits, some

genviine young Chinese Quails, which never lived to break the shell.


A inimber of eggs were laid by my Quails last winter when they were

in an indoor aviary, but besides the time of year being adverse to the rearing

of 5'oung birds, the aviary was too crowded for anj' hope of success and no

attempt was made to incubate; the eggs being, in fact, laid in different

places. In April the Quails were put into an outdoor aviar}-, and very soou

eggs were discovered about the floor, but no attempt at a nest was made.

I obtained some thick branches and stacked them against the wall in one

corner of the aviary, and behind them I placed a bunch of soft hay. Shortly-

after this I had to leave home, and i;pon my return was glad to find that the

ha}' had been formed into a nest, and that the hen was steadily sitting upon

eight eggs. She sat very well and I quite hoped within three weeks to have

a brood of young Chinese Quails, but I was to be disappointed. When the

three weeks were up I thought it probable that the eggs lacked sufficient

moisture and they were sprinkled with luke-warm water; but I hardly

hoped for success now, as I was nearly sure the full time was passed.


The hen would leave the nest when I went to sprinkle the eggs,

and immediately I had finished would rush on again long before I left the

aviary, a fact that is perhaps worth noting, since it has been stated that the

slightest interference with the nest or eggs of this species will cause the

birds to desert — still it is in all cases where foreign birds are nesting much

better not to go near the nest, whatever has been stated to the contrary.


Shortly after the three weeks were up I placed the eggs in warm

water and found that they all floated, and no motion was visible as it should

have been had the chicks been alive. I thereupon broke one egg and found

that it contained a fully developed chick, which had evidently been dead

some few days. I then broke all the eight, four of which contained dead

young birds, all fully developed, and apparently within about a day of

hatching ; they were of course covered with down, and closely resembled

young partridges in colour.


How it was that none hatched is not clear, but my own opinion is

that the fault lies in the concrete floor of the inner part of the aviary, upon

which the nest was placed. If I ever put up another outdoor aviary I shall

have the bare earth as a floor to the inner as well as the outer part, only I

shall have a layer of half-inch mesh wire netting laid about six inches below

the surface as a proof against ground vermin. My Chinese Quails are

particularly tame, and will readily take mealworms from the hands of those

they know. The hen occasionally " crows " as well as the cock, but in a

feebler voice.


D. Seth-Smith.



