NATURAL HISTORY. 



221 



I understand you are breeding quails 

 in confinement. If so, I wish you would 

 kindly write me a brief account of your 

 experiences in this matter. The question 

 of the propagation of game birds is an 

 important one, in view of the rapid disap- 

 pearance of wild birds and animals, and 

 I am anxious to get all the practical in- 

 formation I can on this subject. 



Mr. Welch replied as follows: 



The main eclosure in which I keep my 

 quails is 8 x 8 x 35 feet and is covered with 

 wire. In this pen the birds run and feed 

 and water. Next to this pen and separated 

 from it by a board fence is another pen 

 it dark, but it should not be too dark. I 

 8 x 4 x 35. I have a hole cut through the 

 board fence and in this pen the birds breed 

 and nest. I arrange every thing in this 

 pen as naturally as I can. Only the top 

 is wire. The sides are board. I also cover 

 the top partly with old sack, etc., to make 

 arrange brush, leaves, moss, straw, etc., 

 for the quails to nest in, and do not allow 

 them to be disturbed. The young should 

 be fed fine grass seed, ground canary bird 

 seed, etc., for about 10 days, when they 

 will come along all right. The pen should 

 face the sun and be free from draft. The 

 run should have plenty of dust for the 

 birds to rub in and some wild weeds with 

 the seeds in. A paste made of hard boiled 

 eggs and ground canary bird seed is also 

 good for the young. The old birds re- 

 quire plenty of green feed, such as cabbage 

 or clover, and plenty of pure water and 

 grit. The birds should also be fed grass 

 or weed seeds, as they will not do well on 

 grain alone. 



I do not believe in the propagation of 

 quails in confinement. Twelve pairs of 

 quails properly protected in the hills will 

 produce more quails than 50 pairs will in 

 confinement. The old birds have to be 

 kept a year or more before they will breed 

 successfully, and it is exceedingly hard to 

 care for the young. I am not trying to 

 propagate quails for stocking, but only 

 as an experiment, to study their habits, 

 to get people interested in them and in 

 protecting them; for they can not be suc- 

 cessfully bred in confinement for stocking 

 purposes. However, to take the birds 

 from hard ground and put them down in 

 good ground, when they will receive 

 proper protection, is a good idea and will 

 meet with good results. 



As you say, the question of the propa- 

 gation of game birds is important, but I 

 think increase can be more successfully 

 obtained by limiting bags, stopping sale, 

 shortening seasons, making stringent laws 

 and enforcing them than in any other 

 way. The propagation of game birds, 

 aside from the pheasant, is not, in my 



opinion, practicable. To give the birds 

 proper protection in the field is the only 

 way I know of ever again restocking our 

 game fields. The sooner he who is fond 

 of shooting wakes up to that fact the bet- 

 ter. No man is a greater lover of the 

 sport and recreation to be found afield 

 with gun and rod than I am, but I believe 

 every State should have a resident license 

 law, low, and a non-resident license law, 

 high, or least some kind of a gun li- 

 cense law, either county or State. Then 

 we would have some idea who is doing all 

 this slaughter. Our new State law will 

 be of great help to us in California, 

 as it prohibits the sale of quails and limits 

 the bag. Our Governor deserves great 

 praise for affixing his signature to the bill 

 in the face of the army of hogs that op- 

 posed it. 



Walter R. Welch, Soquel, Cal. 



EXPERIENCES WITH MUSKRATS. 



Hollidaysburg, Pa. 

 Editor Recreation: 



The question, "Do muskrats eat 

 flesh?" which has been so thoroughly dis- 

 cussed in Recreation, is interesting to 

 me. I have studied the habits of these 

 little, fur bearing animals closely, as, hav- 

 ing trapped large numbers of them when 

 a boy, I had every opportunity to do so. 

 Water rats occasionally eat meat, but sub- 

 sist chiefly on vegetables, roots, etc. They 

 can by no means be called carnivorous, 

 but come plainly under the head of her- 

 bivorous animals. As Mr. S. B. Brown 

 states in his article in November Recrea- 

 tion, the muskrat's teeth are not formed 

 like those of a flesh eating animal. It has 

 a small mouth, and could not possibly 

 catch and kill a duck. It might, however, 

 be able to kill a tender, young duckling. 

 The jaws of carnivorous animals are long, 

 allowing a wide spread of the mouth, and 

 are furnished with thick, strong teeth for 

 tearing and grinding flesh, while the teeth 

 of the muskrat are long and slender. I 

 do not think it possible for this animal to 

 tear the flesh from t*he bones of a duck, 

 as a meat eating animal would, but it may 

 be able to eat out small pieces of flesh. It 

 would also be easy for it to eat small shell 

 fish, as they require little or no mastica- 

 tion. 



Many times I have sat along the banks 

 of a stream or pond and watched the 

 muskrats for hours. Have seen them 

 drag heads of cabbage, beets, turnips, 

 corn, etc., from adjoining fields and take 

 them into their holes; but only once saw 

 a muskrat eat flesh. On that occasion I 

 was fishing for bass in the Juniata river, 

 and had placed a stringer of fish in the 

 water along the shore, a short distance 

 from where my rod was set. The fishing 



