58 QUAILOLOGY - LETTERS & CLIPPINGS. 



dainty in their habits, and if given ample opportunity for dust 

 baths, keep free from vermin. ... When 15 eggs had been laid, 

 they prepared to set, when the male escaped. ... The plucky lit- 

 tle hen assumed all responsibility and proceeded to hatch the 

 eggs, which she did in 25 days, hatching the entire 15 birds. ... 



Last year I again had 2 hens and one cock, and they mated as 

 before, declining polygamy most emphatically. ... During the 

 season they laid 54 eggs, but did not set at all,... so I placed a 

 number of fertile eggs in the... incubator and hatched several of 

 them, placing them in a brooder. ... At that particular time I 

 was away from home, and as they were entirely without attend- 

 ance, it was not surprising that on my return all but one were 

 dead. How that one survived I do not know,... When only 6 

 weeks old and before he was fully fledged, I had another small 

 hatching from the incubator, and I placed them with him. At 

 first he seemed to consider them grasshoppers, and treated 

 them as such, but in a day or 2 not only tolerated them but, to 

 my surprise, actually brooded them.... 



Wild mustard,... they eat greedily, leaving grain untouched 

 if they can get the seeds of this weed. 



...Anyone who will adopt the quail as a protege, as I have 

 done, will find himself well repaid for the trouble. They are 

 not only more affectionate than our common poultry, but vastly 

 more interesting. ... Quail are much like turkeys when young, 

 a very little will kill them, especially cold or wet; but with a 

 dry and moderately warm place they are sure to thrive. 



J. T. Blandford, Buffalo, N. Y. 



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