QUAILOLOGY - DOMESTICATION, ETC. 33 



out and caress it gently for a few minutes and then place it 

 back and take up another. Their box is small and they have 

 not the opportunity to flutter and fly around and become wild- 

 er. They soon learn that they are not to be harmed and sub- 

 mit to caressing, where if the box was larger we would scare 

 the life out of them in trying to place our hands on them, this 

 is one object of the smallness of the box. Another is, that 

 taken from their world-wide aviary and placed in a cage of 

 any size they would feel the sense of confinement, and being 

 subjected to close confinement at first, they more fully appre- 

 ciate the liberties of a larger aviary when placed in their per- 

 manent quarters. As they grow tamer we increase the range 

 of their liberties and place them in a larger box, and finally 

 place them in their permanent quarters, where they soon begin 

 to feel at home and are not disturbed at our approach. 



A greater number of birds may be handled successfully by 

 the use of two boxes, barely large enough to hold them, and 

 transferring the birds from one to the other several times a 

 day, carefully caressing each one and imitating its note-call 

 as it is transferred. 



It is a certain fact that there is a difference in people, and 

 that some have a more convincing way that appeals to wild 

 nature, than others, but if care and kind treatment are used 

 most anyone can overcome the wildest of nature in the quail. 



A certain breeder offers the following method by which the 

 quail may be tamed and brought under complete control in the 

 space of a few hours.— "A portion— larger, or smaller, in pro- 

 portion to the wildness of the bird— is cut off from the inner 

 plume of the pen feathers, so that the bird cannot hurt itself 

 if it attempts to leave the hand, and the external appearance 

 of the wing is not impaired. The nostrils of the bird are then 

 touched with bergamot, or any odorous oil, by which it is 

 for a time so stupefied, as to perch quietly on the finger, or 

 to hop from one finger, to another. ,It may indeed attempt to 



