106 



THE GAME BREEDER 



were no losses due to vermin, the place 

 being trapped and the pens located 

 within easy range of the kitchen door. 

 Some cats and skunks, one of the first 

 named being a very large and evidently 

 a wild one, were trapped, and some 

 crows and hawks fell to the gamekeep- 

 er's gun, but the hawks were not numer- 

 ous and they only succeeded in taking 

 one barn yard fowl from the chicken 

 yard in a little more exposed situation. 

 The young birds grew rapidly and soon 

 were observed running about in the 

 weeds. They were shut up in the coops 

 at night as young pheasants are. The 

 young birds came readily to feed at the 

 cluck of the hen and often were ob- 

 served running in and out of the coops. 

 They no doubt secured much insect food 

 and they were observed eating the green 

 seeds of the weeds in the garden. When 

 about the size of sparrows the young 

 quail began flying out of the pens into 

 the garden, which contained beans, corn, 

 tomatoes, asparagus and other vegeta- 

 bles, now much overgrown with weeds, 

 and it was interesting to hear the young 

 birds chirping in the weeds and to ob- 

 serve them flying over the sides of their 

 enclosures into the garden and back 

 again into the pens. The keeper lifted 

 the wire slightly from the boards so that 

 the young quail could fly up on the edges 

 of the boards and pass out and in easily. 

 As they grew older they spent much of 

 their time outside of the pens and the 

 exercise in procuring insects and seeds 

 no doubt was beneficial. 



A cock bob-white placed in a coop in 

 one corner of a pen, his pen facing the 

 coop of a bantam to which a brood of 

 young quail had been given, attracted 

 the young quail to his coop and when he 

 was liberated he was observed flying 

 in and out of the pen and associating 

 with the young quail. I have no doubt 

 that young quail can be transferred in 

 this manner from a bantam to a cock 

 or hen quail and it would seem that 

 young Gambel's, scaled and California 

 valley quail, which are runners and do 

 not lie well to the dog, can in this man- 

 ner be taught good sporting manners. 

 An even better plan, of course, would be 



to hatch the eggs of running quail under 

 bob-white hens and to liberate the hen 

 and young brood in a garden well pro- 

 tected with briars and weeds. This ex- 

 periment will be tried next season when 

 we expect to rear a very large number 

 of quail of several species in various 

 ways. 



As our quail grew they became 

 strong on the wing and on several occa- 

 sions when showing the young birds to 

 visitors a number of the birds, now larger 

 than sparrows, whirred out of the pens, 

 some flying across the road in front of 

 the house and others to considerable dis- 

 tances in other directions. How many, 

 if any, were lost or failed to return it 

 would be impossible to say, since the 

 birds never could be counted accurately 

 as they ran about in the weeds in and 

 outside of the pens and as they flew from 

 one pen into the other. 



Since many quail were found and 

 pointed by dogs in the fall it would seem 

 that the losses were very small. About 

 45 or 50 of the 122 quail hatched and 

 penned undoubtedly escaped and have 

 survived up to date, excepting a few 

 which were shot. Fifteen were caught 

 when they were about full grown and 

 these are thriving in a pen with a wired 

 top to prevent their escape. Up to date 

 there have been no losses in this pen and 

 in this connection I may say that the 

 stock of original birds thrived amazingly 

 in the pens where the eggs were laid, 

 the food being chick grain in addition 

 to lettuce and grass and clover plucked 

 outside of the pens and thrown in for 

 the birds, as the grass in the pens was 

 eaten or trodden down by the running 

 birds. 



A few days ago a cow lifted the catch 

 on the door of the pen and the door blew 

 open, liberating these Gambel's quail. 

 Although the accident is to be regretted, 

 it will be interesting to observe if the 

 quail thrive during the winter in a wild 

 state and if they nest wild next season. 

 A large flock of Gambel's quail recently 

 was pointed by a dog and flushed in a 

 field on the farm and these no doubt 

 were the birds which escaped. Some of 

 them may be trapped and held for hand- 



