THE GAME BREEDER 



153 



OUR QUAILS OR PARTRIDGES. 



By D. W. Huntfngton. 



The wild turkeys, grouse and quail or 

 partridges of North America constitute 

 the finest group of true game birds to 

 be found in the world. The pheasants 

 of the old world have brighter plumage" 

 and may be said, to be- more beautiful 

 than our grouse and quail, but only a few 

 of the pheasants are suitable for "sport 

 and none of them when shot over 

 dogs compares favorably with the 

 American grouse of the woods and 

 prairies and our splendid bobwhite 

 wtfjch, for many reasons, I regard as 

 the best game bird in the world. It lies 

 well to the dog ; presents a difficult mark 

 in the open and tests to the utmost the 

 skill of the experienced sportsman when 

 it takes to difficult covers which it usually 

 does after the first shot on the stubble. 

 The size of the quail makes ir easy to 

 carry a good number in the pocket or 

 gajne.bag; its flesh is tender and delici- 

 ous and there are few better birds on 

 the table. Bobwhite is a better game 

 bird than the other quails simply because 

 he behaves better beiore the dogs than 

 the others do. 



Many sportsmeri ■ and naturalists in 

 America have collections of pheasants 

 including not only the common sporting 

 species, the ringnecks and the dark- 

 necked pheasants, but also many of the 

 rare and expensive Aviary species. The 

 number of people who own extensive 

 collections of pheasants is increasing 

 rapidly in all parts of the United States 

 and in the provinces of Canada, but 

 very few, if any, persons own good col- 

 lections of quail. Before describing the 

 different species of quail or partridges 

 I wish to call the reader's attention to 

 the desirability of making a collection of 

 Afnerican quails. Many of the birds 

 have beautiful plumage; all are very 

 good to eat; a mixed bag is interesting 

 and desirable. I would therefore strongly 



advise those who can afford to experi- 

 ment to give the quails a trial. A col- 

 lection of all of our quail in the aviary 

 can be made much more inexpensively 

 than a collection of a few of the rare 

 pheasants can be made, and I am quite 

 sure a collection of quail containing the 

 plumed and crested qualils of California, 

 the two scaled quails of the Rio Grande 

 country, the handsome Gambel's quail or 

 partridge, the strange masked bobwhite, 

 with a black throat instead of the fa- 

 miliar white one of bobwhite, and the 

 bizarre-mearns quail, dotted with white 

 like a little guinea hen, and last, but not 

 least, the three species of bobwhite found 

 in the United States and also some of the 

 rare and beautiful forms found in Cen- 

 tral and Southern Mexico will be found 

 interesting and profitable. 



I know a number of sportsmen who 

 own several species of quail, but I doubt 

 if there are any who own all the Ameri- 

 can species. I doubt if any of the com- 

 mercial breeders, even the big ones, own 

 all the quails or can supply them quickly. 

 I have no doubt that any man or woman 

 who understands game breeding can 

 quickly have an interesting and very 

 profitable business if he or she will make 

 a collection of the American quail or 

 partridges with a view to selling the birds 

 and eggs. I strongly favor the range 

 system of breeding, but hand rearing has 

 many advocates. Quail are comparatively 

 small feeders and the eggs of the com- 

 mon species will sell for about twice as 

 much as the eggs of the common pheas- 

 ants and wild ducks. 



Most of the quails or partridges easily 

 can be procured from those who adver- 

 tise in The Game Breeder, but probably 

 not all without some delay since, as I 

 have said, I doubt if any one can say he 

 owns all the species or can supply them 

 easily. The list of the- (juails of the 



