TIIE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NAT! I: A I 



78 



rival Museum may offer easier facilities for 

 instruction, and then the long-continued wanl 



dl' push and management will prove unfavour- 

 able to its prosperity. — C. 



THE MIGRATORY QUAIL. 

 This bird which has been introduced into 



Canada and the United States during the past 

 few years is the " Colurnix Communis " of 

 Europe, a species much smaller than our 

 " Virginianus " or Bob White. Unlike the 

 latter it is capable of long and sustained flight, 

 migrating annually from its winter home in 

 Africa, crossing the Mediteranean Sea in its 

 course and dispersing to its breeding places 

 throughout Europe, from whence it agajn re- 

 turns on the approach of winter. This bird 

 resembles our Western Quail " Ortyx Virgini- 

 anus " very much but it is about one third 

 smaller and the throat of the male is marked 

 with dark brown or black from the bill down- 

 wards. 



The nest is simply a depression in the 

 ground lined with a little grass, and is usually 

 situated in a meadow or field. The eggs 12 to 

 15 in number are of a pale greenish colour, 

 blotched profusely with brown and are about 

 the size of those of the American Robin. The 

 female while incubating sits very close on the 

 nest, the clatter of a mowing machine being 

 sometimes not sufficient to cause her to leave 

 and numerous cases have been recorded where 

 the bird was decapitated by one of these 

 machines rather than leave the nest. 



The young birds leave the nest as soon as 

 hatched and mature very rapidly, affording 

 good shooting by September. 



As the climate in some of the northern por- 

 tions of the Dominion is too severe in winter for 

 "Virginianus" it has been hoped that the intro- 

 duction of the Migratory species would be the 

 means of providing our sportsmen with 

 Quail Shooting, as it seems only reasonable 

 that these birds will migrate here as well as 

 in Europe During the past two years numer- 

 ous birds have been liberated at St. Stephen . 



N'l:.. Quebec City, Lachine, and other 

 ities. Some young bird 1 at 



St John during the same sea 

 been liberated at St. Stephen and were evidently 

 the young of the latter ae none had been I 

 ated nearer. Several nests were also found this 

 season at Lachine where the birds bad 

 introduced in the spring, so there is ri" doubt 

 of their breeding readily ; the m<>-t important 

 point is in regard to their returning the foil 

 season as in Europe. We believe the experiment 

 has nut yei been sufficiently tested in Canada 

 to determine this, although it is reported some 

 of these birds have been seen in the vicinity 

 of Quebec, where they had been liberated the 

 preceding season. The fact of their returning 

 once ascertained without doubt, we have many 

 localities affording suitable covers which would 

 in a few years become valuable shooting 

 grounds. Special legislation for their protection 

 would however be required until they became 

 sufficiently numerous, and generally distrib- 

 uted. Let us hope the introduction will be a 

 success and that in a few years we will be able 

 to number these pretty Quail with our game 

 birds. — Wallace. 



CANADIAN LOBSTER FISHERIES, 

 In the September number of this Magazine, 

 we spoke of the thousands of Lobsters taken 

 annually from the St. Lawrence Gulf waters 

 of Canada for canning. When the article was 

 written, we had no idea that lobsters 

 fished out along the Bay Chaleur. We anti- 

 cipated the first decrease from Prince Edward 

 Island where we are imformed the catch is 

 very large during the season. Lobster packers 

 will have to be careful not to overdo this 

 crustacean fishery, as the animals are dif- 

 ferently constructed from fish, and have not 

 the power or facility of wandering like the 

 latter. It just comes to this, that the places 

 where bobsters were formerly abundant can- 

 not be so now, and will not pay because the 

 packers, in many instances made no determin- 

 ed restrictions in regard to the capture ot the 



