76 



THE GAME BREEDER 



and had made herself a nest on the 

 ground in one of the corners inside of 

 her shed. So I placed all of these seven- 

 teen eggs in her nest for her to hatch 

 them out. And she certainly was a fine 

 cluck-. She didn't break a single egg and 

 left the nest very seldom, and that but 

 for a few moments. 



On the twenty-first day of incubation 

 I removed the eggs from the Lady Am- 

 herst nest to an incubator running at 103 

 degrees. Some of the Gambel and Bob- 

 white eggs were pipped that day. On 

 June 20, the twenty-fourth dav of incu- 

 bation, there were fifteen quail hatched, 

 and on June 21 the remaining two also. 

 Both of these last hatched — one Bob- 

 white and one Gambel — were cripples 

 and lived but a few days. I kent the 

 young in the machine 24 hours longer. 

 Again odds were against me. I thought 

 I had a bantam cluck ready for them, but 

 when I gave them to her she would not 

 accept them, but was very much afraid 

 of them. So I took another bantam 

 cluck, which had been fostering some 

 young pheasants a week already, and 

 gave the whole flock of quail to her ; and, 

 to my surprise, she readily accepted them 

 as though they were her real family. 

 But. naturally, such a cluck will not sit 

 as tight and quiet on the young any more 

 as she ought to, and as clucks will do 

 when the young are first hatched. But 

 in spite of all that, the young quail grew 

 stronger day by day. 



The first few days I kept the cluck 

 with the poults in a cracker box, with 

 slats in the center through which they 

 could run back and forth, the bottom of 

 this coop being covered with coarse, dry 

 gravel. After a few days I connected 

 this coop with a small run, 2 by 4 by 1 

 feet, with screen on two sides and also 

 covered with screen on top. The bottom 

 of this run was also - covered with dry, 

 coarse gravel. 



The first few days I fed the quail egg- 

 custard and finely cut lettuce. From the 

 very first I also gave them clean water 

 in a small drinking font. I fed them 

 little and often at first, the egg cus- 

 tard remaining their principal daily food 



thereafter. This they enjoyed very 

 much. 



After a few days I began to feed them 

 also maggots and ants' eggs and ants. 

 Would take a spade and dig ground of 

 ant nest with ants and eggs in it, place 

 this in a pail and dump the contents in 

 the quail's run. That would keep them 

 very busy for hours. When a week old 

 1 began to feed them also Spratt's chick 

 grain and some timothy and clover seed, 

 which I happened to have on hand. 

 Every day I would throw in a little finely 

 cut lettuce and clover. 



Both the Bob- whites and Gambels 

 grew fast. The young Gambels showed 

 the plume that decorates their head when 

 a few days old. The Bob-whites were 

 plumper in size and also quite some 

 tamer than the Gambels. 



As I had to leave my home for a 

 week on duty, I had to leave my quail 

 to the care of my 9-year-old son. He 

 took good care of them, but made one 

 grave mistake. Instead of only moisten- 

 ing the bran, in which the maggots were 

 raised, he partly filled the vessel with 

 water. This caused the bran to turn 

 black and rot. This poisoned the mag- 

 gots and the poisoned maggots killed all 

 of my quail excepting three. Odds again 

 were against me. Hereafter the cluck 

 absolutely refused to brood these three 

 quail and began to peck them. I there- 

 fore took these three — two Gambels and 

 one Bob-white — and placed them in the 

 pen with the old Gambel cock. And it 

 seemed to me as though the old quail 

 was very much pleased to have his off- 

 spring with him. But Mr. Gambel only 

 behaved well as long as I stood and 

 watched him. After I was gone he 

 showed his three youngsters that he ab- 

 solutely allowed no intruders whatever 

 in his domain. He killed all three of 

 them. When I at that time read that 

 the Migratory Bird Bill, with all the 

 vicious "teeth" in it, would become a law, . 

 I was indeed very glad that the young 

 quail were gone. Later on this law was 

 changed and the game breeders won. 



The old Gambel cock is still living and 



