THE GAME BREEDER 75 



thousand quails are shot, during a few very small when the birds are bred wild 



weeks shooting, every season. I have in the fields. 



no hesitation in saying that the quail on It is significant that thousands of dol- 



some of these places are more plentiful lars have been expended in hand-rearing 



than I ever saw them in Ohio, Ken- experiments and that no hand,-reared 



tucky, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas and quail have ever been shot and few have 



other states in the days of greatest been sold alive for propagation, while on 



abundance when we found it an easy the other hand, hundreds of birds have 



rnatter for a party of four or six guns been shot the first season and thousands 



to shoot a wagon load of quail in a few thereafter, each year, in places where 



days. beat-keepers are employed to see that 



All of our quails are verv prolific and the quail have attractive and quiet nest- 



they can be multiplied vi^ith startling ing sites ; that they are freed, to a large 



rapidity. Quail shooting is regarded by extent, from the ravages of enemies, and 



many as our best sport afield and it is ^^d abundantly at times when natural 



gratifying to observe that quail shoot- foods are scarce. 



ing can be made excellent at a very small It is desirable to know the artificial 



cost per gun and that it really is the methods since, as we have observed, they 



cheapest form of game preserving which n^ay be used to save some birds and 



has been undertaken in America. The eggs. These will be referred to after the 



figures given me by some bi the quail proper methods of handling the birds in 



clubs prove that quail shooting costs very protected fields have been descried. We 



little when compared with duck shooting ^ish at the outset to impress upon the 



or pheasant shooting. On some quail farmers the fact that easily they can 



^1 ^ .^ r i-u 4- u have an abundance of quail and other 



snoots, of course, the sportsmen have • tVi <- tVi '11 h fit hi • 



an abundance of pheasants, grouse, and S. i. i' ^- ^u r i- • ' 



j„^i ^ r^ ^^ J ^ ' & ' tl^^t la^g preventing them from having 



ducks tor good measure. -i ^ ^. j .• ^i r 



. 1 . , quail to eat and preventing them from 



Quail multiply so rapidly when their sgHing game or renting the shooting de- 

 natural enemies are controlled and when urease the value of the farm since any 

 foods are supplied m bad weather that it f^rm where game can be produced for 

 is not necessary to engage m any ex- foo^j qj- gpoj-t is worth much more than 

 ndges abundant abroad and which have one where such industry is criminal. We 

 wires and inclosures. I am strongly in wish to impress upon the sportsmen the 

 favor of the wild-breeding methods fact that the time has come when quail 

 which have resulted in keeping the part- shooting will be prohibited forever on • 

 pensive hand-rearing, with its crops, the inclosed and cultivated farms unless 

 resulted in the abundance of quail and they deal fairly with the land owners and 

 the excellent shooting which I have make it worth while to preserve and in- 

 found on many places in America. crease the game. 



The artificial rearing methods are val- Audubon lists the quail as one of our 



uable on some places where they may be best wild food birds. It is only those 



used to advantage to supplement the field who have no knowledge of natural his- 



work, just as they are in foreign coun- tory and the laws which regulate the in- 



tries, when eggs are found in exposed crease and decrease of the numbers of 



or dangerous places and when sitting any species who delight in saying that 



birds are driven from their nests by the quail is a "song bird" and should 



natural or domestic enemies, by water not be eaten. We agree heartily with 



used for irrigation and by farm machin- Audubon and all other real naturalists 



ery. We should always remember, how- that the quail is an excellent food bird 



ever, that the artificial rearing of quails intended by the Creator of all things for 



and partridges is expensive and uncer- human food, 



tain: that wild-bred birds are far better * 



for sport, and the cost of production is More Game and Fewer Game Laws. 



