QUAILOLOGY - DOMESTICATION, ETC. 31 



With the exception of one or two varieties, the quail family 

 all roost on the ground and seldom take to the trees so that it 

 is not necessary that we should build the aviary or shelter 

 house high. It should be kept clean and well painted through- 

 out every season with carbolineum, or whitewashed. With 

 the the exception of the house it should not be floored as the 

 birds delight to scratch and dust themselves. 



When possible the aviary should be placed on a grassy plot 

 and where there are such, over an ant-hill, as the birds are very 

 fond of ants and ants' eggs. 



Our breeding pens are 12 x 8 and 3 1-2 feet high. One end 

 and the top are boarded up, and a trap door placed in the top 

 to admit of access in cleaning and feeding. A twelve inch 

 b oard is placed on the bottom of either side and the remainder 

 of the sides covered with inch mesh woven wire. During the 

 breeding season a foot wire screen is placed above the foot 

 boards, the entire length, to keep the little chicks from escap- 

 ing. The remaining end is closed by one side of the nesting 

 and shelter house, it a trifle higher and sloping to two and a 

 half feet behind, and three feet in width. In this are placed 

 a row of nesting boxes, shelves for the birds to roost on if they 

 choose to in bad weather, dusting and grit boxes. A window, 

 which may be darkened during the nesting season, is placed 

 in one end for light, and a door to admit of cleaning, etc, at 

 the other end. This is so constructed as to be warm during 

 the winter and well ventilated during the summer, and forms 

 a quiet retreat for the birds at all times. Openings, which may 

 be closed when desired, are cut to admit of passage to and from 

 the house to the run. The house is well floored and during the 

 winter the floor is covered, to a depth of two or three inches, 

 with nice clean straw, and our birds never suffer from the cold. 

 In the run we place a dusting box, which is kept filled with 

 road dust, a grit box and a very shallow water dish, this should 

 not contain more than a half inch of water as we once had the 



