QUAILOLOGY - DOMESTICATION, ETC. 41 



permit of some shade during the extreme hot weather. In the 

 notes on our aviary we gave the requisites of the aviary and 

 runs for the comfort of the birds. 



The quail is prone to rustle for a living, picking up a bit of 

 grain here, an insect there, spiced with a bit of vegetation 

 to flavor, and now and then a few grains of sand or fine gravel 

 to grind the mixture. Too much feed will make them too fat 

 and tend to make them lazy, while an insufficient quantity or 

 improper kind and variety will bring disease and unsatisfactory 

 results in eggs and chicks. 



The observing student will note that that the wild quail are 

 found upon the feeding grounds, or along the roadsides, in ^ 

 search of food, in the early morning hours and late in the 

 afternoon. Although the quail feeds more or less on insects 

 during the day, it is at these hours that it searches for solid 

 grain and seeds. Therefore, we make it a point to feed twice 

 a day, the first thing in the morning and about four thirty in 

 the afternoon. 



The Spratts people have made extensive experiments along 

 the food lines of our game birds, especially adapted for pheas- 

 ants, which are also valuable in the culture of the quail. 

 Where their game food is used, it should be mixed with water 

 only sufl[icient to make it moist, not sloppy, a half pint of meal 

 when mixed being sufficient for fifteen or sixteen birds. This, 

 prepared a few hours before using and then mixed with a 

 tablespoonfull of "Crissel, " makes a good morning feed. A 

 handfull of cracked com, wheat, or buckwheat in the even- 

 ing, and a supply of green food once a day, will keep them 

 in good shape. In feeding grain give but one kind at a time 

 and change the feed from one to the other thus keeping 

 their appetite for each good. Where the birds are kept in 

 movable pens, which may be moved about the lawn, changing 

 the location daily, the giving of green food in the summer 



