28 QUAILOLOGY - DOMESTICATION, ETC. 



applies them to the comfort of his caged birds. Therefore it is 

 essential that we know these, and from the preceding pages de- 

 voted to Ornithology, some good points may be learned. Review 

 them well and then let us procede. 



W 



itJ History 



J 



We have often heard the remark made, "Oh you can't tame a 

 Quail," "You never can tame them, " etc, but we have tamed 

 them, gained their confidence, and so long as we keep it we shall 

 continue to bring them nearer to complete domestication in the 

 full meaning of the word. 



A work issued several years ago, and from which a number of 

 reprints have been made and widely distributed, claims the 

 culture of the quail to be of recent years and in a little story 

 gives the process, in several sections, of raising quail for profit 

 and pleasure. However, the culture dates prior to eighteen 

 hundred and ninty in America, while in Europe a work bearing 

 the date of October 20, 1794 tells of the choice European Quail, 

 so valued as a pet and singer. They were trained to sing, and a 

 bird uttering their peculiar note "Pickvervik!" ten times in 

 succession was highly prized while a very valuable bird is record- 

 ed as uttering it thirty times. The work also treats on the 

 methods of taking, careing and feeding. 



In this country numbers of naturalists and lovers of nature 

 have, in years past, tamed the quail, but is true that the ad- 

 vancement of the culture has gained ground in the last five 

 years. This due to the fact that these game birds are becoming 

 scarcer and their preservation is of importance and it lays with the 

 true fancier to save them from extermination, by domestication. 



The author has bred quails from a fanciers standpoint for a 

 number of years, and has received hundreds of inquiries for in- 

 formation such as we shall endevor to impart here. Many others 

 have been breeding and experimenting with quail and we have 

 given space to their views on this subject in another part of this 

 work. 



In 1899, an association was formed, styled The National Quail 



