on Five Nesting Failures ancl Follies.



113



thinks should meet the case judging from the habits of wild Ibis

nesting in his vicinity.


3. I keep one pair of Californian Quails, and the hen bird

this spring laid over twenty eggs in one corner of the shelter shed.

These were all taken away by me, and she immediately started

a nest by a tuft of grass outside and laid eighteen more eggs. Six

of these being removed, she sat closely on the other twelve eggs and

hatched twelve healthy chicks, of which eight were safely reared.

The pride of both parents in the young hatched w r as intense. The

hen could not easily brood such a large family, so the cock would

constantly sit alongside and brood such chicks as failed to find room

under the hen. He varied this peaceful domestic occupation by

occasionally charging violently at my feet as I left the run. The

habits of young Californian Quails are most pretty, and I do not

think there are any more interesting small game birds, except

perhaps young Chinese Quails, which it has never been my good

fortune to see.


4. When I left home for Iceland early last June, I had what

I hoped was a true pair of Australian Pectoral Rails nesting in a

grass tuft in a small run. One bird was “ sitting like a stone ” on

four eggs, and I hoped for good results. Unfortunately, a rat made

an inroad during my absence and killed the sitting bird. On my

return, I found that owing to this and other tragedies things had got

rather mixed, and the surviving rail had been moved into a larger

run (about 9 yards by 16 yards) where there were a lot of other

Waders, including another Pectoral Rail. The surviving Rail was

sitting closely in a tuft of grass on eggs believed by my man to

be six in number. Thinking these eggs were certainly all clear,

I somewhat stupidly had the bird frightened off the nest and

gave instructions for the eggs to be put on a table in the potting

shed to present to a schoolboy in due course. When the man went

to the nest for the eggs only four were found, although six had

previously been seen. As these Rails are always destroying their

eggs, this was not surprising. The eggs were removed at 9.30 a.m.

on Tuesday, 14th July—at 2.45 p.m. the same day, my man heard a

chick trying to break through the shell of one of the eggs removed.

He at once took all four eggs back to the nest and then discovered



