

THE GAME BREEDER 



43 



complications. This change is possibly 

 the cause of the death of Mexican quail, 

 for due to temperate climate their diet 

 necessarily is composed of green food 

 and insect life in abundance. I am satis- 

 fied that this is the principal cause of 

 death, for I have held bobwhite quail 

 taken in December and January after 

 green food and insect life had disap- 

 peared when their crops showed that 

 they were fed on grain and weed seeds 

 and held them to April with a loss of 

 less than two per cent. 



I have also found by experience that 

 bobwhite quail when confined in large 

 open pens are easily alarmed and flush 

 quickly, even where cropped they kill 

 themselves when in panic, and those un- 

 injured are so badly scared that they do 

 not feed properly for several days. It 

 therefore seems best to recommend that 

 the birds be held in small crates in which 

 they are to be shipped, as under such 

 conditions their coops can be kept in a 

 sanitary condition, the food can be reg- 

 ulated to the proper amount, sick, dead 

 and injured birds can be removed with- 

 out alarming many, and they would not 

 have to be rehandled immediately before 

 shipping. 



When captured or transferred to hold 

 crates, males should be confined in one 

 crate or compartment and females in an- 

 other, and especially should this arrange- 

 ment be followed where shipments are 

 to consist of four dozen, and as most 

 parties ordering birds desire them 

 equally divided as to sex, the compart- 

 ments could be kept to the standard 

 number, thereby eliminating mistakes, 

 excitement of birds, and the keeping of 

 records. 



First, I would suggest and recommend 

 that the Federal Government secure, pos- 

 sibly with the co-operation of State Com- 

 missions, the services of the ablest 

 pathologists, sending them to the locali- 

 ties from which the birds are to be 

 trapped, and by careful examination to 

 determine if disease exists in their nat- 

 ural habitat, and if so to prohibit their 

 importation until they can be found in a 

 healthy condition. These representatives 

 of the Government should be given au- 



thority as to the manner in which and 

 the length of time the birds should be 

 held in quarantine at the point of entry. 

 The Government officials should look 

 after the birds, or at least some of them 

 after they reach their destination and 

 provide that every purchaser of the birds 

 should before liberation band them or 

 mark them with some distinguishing 

 mark in order that they might be cap- 

 tured or killed under orders and exam- 

 ined by Government officials, as by such 

 procedure the health and general con- 

 dition of the specimens could be deter- 

 mined. There are Government and 

 State reservations upon which the birds 

 could be liberated, protected and the re- 

 sults of their planting quickly deter- 

 mined. 



Second, I would recommend that no 

 immature birds be entered at anv time, 

 but the regulations should be amended 

 to permit the entry of birds from No- 

 vember 15 to April 15. Should such 

 regulations be adopted, no birds should 

 be sent north of the Mason and Dixon 

 line before March 1. Such regulations 

 would permit Southern purchasers to 

 purchase and liberate their birds in the 

 early fall. The Northern purchasers 

 could receive their birds after March 1, 

 when the possibilities for saving them 

 would be very great. 



It is possible that where disease is 

 prevalent, by properly conducted re- 

 search, to isolate the germ and find the 

 remedy therefor. 



I wish to call your attention to the 

 fact that the importers and exporters of 

 live stock from Mexico and Southern 

 Texas to the United States and from the 

 United States, in the beginning experi- 

 enced the same difficulties and a worse 

 loss than did the importers of quail, but 

 after experiments the Government ex- 

 perts solved the problems and the im- 

 portations and exportations are today 

 as successfully made as are the move- 

 ments from one township to another in 

 the same locality. 



The Government should determine and 

 announce at the earliest possible date of 

 importations, conditions giving the im- 

 porters and purchasers time to arrange 





