DESTRUCTION AND PROTECTION 54Z 
improved on as time goes on. Professor Hodge’s letter 
on his experiments shows extraordinary progress made 
in learning of the lives of these birds. 
There is a wide range of difference in the actions of 
different pairs of bobwhites, especially in respect to 
breeding and care of young. One pair which occupied 
a large cage with the ruffed grouse got along with 
the larger birds without any trouble; the hen laid 58 
eggs, making and filling several nests. On August 
2oth the cock began brooding a nest with 16 eggs, and 
on September 13th hatched 15 chicks. Both birds 
joined in the care of the brood. Another pair had 
occupied a cage 6 by 12 feet and produced in all 69 
eggs, but neither bird showed any signs of brood- 
ing. The cock, however, took charge of and reared 
a brood of chicks, hatched under a bantam, but while 
he was doing this the hen quail refused to associate 
with him. A pair was kept in a cage 3 by 6 feet and 
produced 68 eggs, all laid in a single nest. The eggs 
were taken away from time to time, because neither 
bird showed signs of brooding. Nevertheless, on the 
9 eggs last laid, the hen began to sit September 12th 
and brought out 9 chicks October 6th. The cock was 
attentive to his mate on the nest, but was seen sitting 
on it only once for a short time, while the hen was 
feeding. Both birds joined in the care of the young. 
Of the two unmated cocks one adopted and took care of 
a brood of chicks hatched under a hen, while the other 
refused to care for the chicks, pecked them savagely 
and would probably have killed any that had been left 
