QUAIL-SHOOTING IN THE WEST. 93 



cock, and I think the hen was then sitting again. 

 Furthermore, later in the year bevies of quail 

 will be found in which there are manifestly birds 

 of two sizes besides the old ones. These bevies 

 must be made up of young quail of different ages. 

 I am not certain as to the hen bringing forth a 

 second brood while the first is under the care of 

 the cock, but I state the facts I have seen for 

 what they are worth. There is nothing improba- 

 ble, to my mind, in the raising of two broods a 

 year. The hen-quail is very prolific of eggs ; 

 food is abundant and stimulating at the breed- 

 ing season ; the weather is commonly steadily 

 fine when the first brood is brought off, and the 

 cock-bird is abundantly able to take care of it. 

 In the State of Illinois quail-shooting begins on 

 the. first of October. I think the law ought to 

 be changed so that it should not commence 

 before the fifteenth of October. On the first of 

 October some birds are full grown, but it is 

 otherwise with the great majority of the young 

 birds. Quail are a little slower in growth than 

 pinnated grouse, and it is not before the fif- 

 teenth of October that most of the birds are 

 large, strong, and swift of wing. In Ohio, Indi- 

 ana, Michigan, Minnesota, . Wisconsin, and other 



