APPENDIX 357 



fall. The female produces two broods a year, of fifteen or sixteen young ones 

 each, and it is rare for an egg to fail to produce a bird. By slowly removing 

 some of the eggs from the nest, after the first few have been laid, the output 

 can be increased to fifty or even sixty eggs for a season, the extra ones being 

 hatched under a hen. Experiments have been made with incubators for hatch- 

 ing quail (partridge) eggs, and with some degree of success, but the hen serves 

 admirably for the purpose. It should be a hen of gentle disposition and light 

 weight, so as not to smash the treasures confided to her, and a bantam sevns to 

 be well adapted for the business. " Mr. Bache describes at length the method 

 of rearing the young, but his story would be more satisfactory if it were accom- 

 panied with some statement of facts concerning those who have experimented 

 with partridge domestication. A general opinion has prevailed that these birds 

 were not easily tamed and that they did not breed in confinement. The editor 

 of the Review, says, however : "In future years it is probable the breeding of 

 quail (partridges) for stocking depleted resorts will be conducted in a system- 

 atic manner by the game and fish commissioners of nearly all the States. " 

 Our partridges are far better game birds than the imported pheasants, to which 

 much time and attention has been given. Partridges can without doubt be 

 raised in considerable numbers in a wild state on farms where they are cared 

 for and protected at all times. I should be glad to see the evidence that they 

 can be bred in captivity. 



" No person shall shoot at any quail except when they are flying" — Ohio 

 laws, 1902. This would be a good law for all the States. The word part- 

 ridge should be used in the statute however. Since there are no quails in 

 America a conviction under the Ohio law would be hardly possible. 



18. Massena Partridge. — Crytonyx montezuma. 



Forehead black with white stripe passitig upward from nostril ; top 

 of head brown barred with black ; short, thick crest brown ; triangular 

 black patch beneath the eye ; head marked with white as pictured ; 

 upper parts brown barred with black ; sides of breast and flanks dusky 

 black spotted with white, resembling small guinea-hen; bill black. 

 Length, %% in. ; wing, 5 in. 



Female. — Brown, upper parts barred with black, black spots on 

 lower chest and flanks. 



/Ta*.— Table-lands of Mexico, from the City of Mexico north to 

 Western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



