THE GAME BREEDER 



107 



rearing experiments. A small flock of 

 Gambel's recently was observed crossing 

 the road about two miles east of the 

 farm by a member of the Long Island 

 Game Breeders' Association, and these, 

 it seems likely, were birds which went to 

 the road to dust and were alarmed by 

 an automobile or other vehicle and were 

 started in a wrong direction. The loss 

 is not a bad feature of the experiment 

 since if birds which go out survive and 

 establish themselves some free shooting 

 will be provided in places where there 

 was none and this we regard as a public 

 service and a popular incident to game 

 preserving. 



Several important facts have been 

 proved by the experiment with Gambel's 

 quail : 



1. The birds can be shipped long dis- 

 tances without fear of loss due to dis- 

 ease or to the long journeny. They can 

 and should be shipped as freely as poul- 

 try and pigeons are. 



2. The quail eggs can be hatched suc- 

 cessfully in incubators. 



3. Good numbers of birds can be 

 reared on small areas for commercial 

 purposes or to supplement the restocking 

 of shooting grounds where birds also are 

 liberated and permitted to nest in safe 

 and attractive fields. The birds lay nu- 

 merous eggs when penned, many more 

 than they would lay in a wild state. The 

 eggs should be a great source of profit 

 on a game farm since they will sell for 

 more than pheasant eggs and the quail 

 are, comparatively, very small eaters and 

 thrive in much smaller enclosures than 

 those used for pheasants. 



Birds shot over a point at different 

 times indicate that the Gambel's quail 

 lie well to a dog, at least in places where 

 the weeds and other covers are heavy, 

 as they are on the Long Island farm. 

 Mr. H. H. Shannon, who made numer- 

 ous observations of the birds in order 

 to study their field behavior, is, no doubt, 

 right in the opinion he expressed re- 

 cently that the birds lie well, probably 

 on account of the cover and the lack of 

 opportunity to run which they have on 

 sandy desert areas. 



Very few birds were harvested "by 



shooting" (none otherwise), but enough 

 were taken to establish the fact that the 

 birds are very suitable and desirable as 

 food. They also have a thick plumage, 

 somewhat heavier than that of the bob- 

 whites, and this would indicate that they 

 should stand our climate nicely. Obser- 

 vations on this point to be made of birds 

 in a wild state and in the pens, includ- 

 ing the fifteen birds reared on the place 

 and penned, and observations to be 

 made of many birds purchased at dis- 

 tant points will complete the record of 

 the experiment with Gambel's quail. It 

 is interesting to record that with a late 

 start and some bad cold rainy weather 

 which was encountered, birds can be 

 procured at a distance, reared on the 

 ground and shot over dogs the first sea- 

 son. No possible number of new game 

 laws ever can be expected to produce 

 such results on ground where there is no 

 game. 



The field where the birds are expected 

 to winter in a wild state is planted in 

 alternating strips of field corn and buck- 

 wheat; the last named was left standing. 

 Examination of the birds shot proves 

 that they have the same liking for buck- 

 wheat which the bob-whites have. The 

 corn was not closely cultivated and 

 is much overgrown with weeds, making 

 attractive cover on both sides of the 

 strips of buckwheat. 



Our experiments with quail will be 

 conducted on a much larger scale next 

 season and visitors who have cards can 

 learn more by visiting the place during 

 the breeding season than I can -eport 

 in writing about it. 



Our experiments in shipping one day 

 old wild ducks and pheasants were re- 

 ported at the time. A shipment of one 

 day old ducks in the mail from Massa- 

 chusetts to the game farm on Long 

 Island resulted in no loss and the young 

 ducks successfully were reared. One 

 day old pheasants shipped to other places 

 were quite successful. In one case the 

 birds were three days in transit and the 

 loss was a little over ten per cent. 



