THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST. 
and bask in the sun; but a hawk, like a 
bolt from the blue, swoops down and 
picks one up in his talons, then leisurely 
flies to the nearest tree to enjoy his meal. 
Learning sense as the days go by, they 
emerge from their cover only early in 
the morning cr late at evening, thus 
escaping the sharp-eyed birds of prey. 
A worse enemy, however, has heard the 
■whistle of the cock bird as he calls his | 
children to their evening meal, and the 
arch-enemy of all feather game, the do¬ 
mestic cat, sneaks along the fence, and 
with one swift spring reduces the bevy 
to seven. New lodgings are sought with¬ 
out delay, and the young birds grow and 
wax fat. On the first of May there ar¬ 
rives on the scene one of the lords of 
creation, attended by a. faithful servant 
in the shape of a keen-nosed pointer, who 
stands statue-like some twenty yards 
from Where our bevy is concealed. They 
hear the command, “Hi, boy! put them 
up!” The dog advances two yards, when 
up they rise with whirling wings, and are 
saluted with two sharp reports. A brace 
is stowed away in the spacious game- 
bag, and the rest are followed from 
paddock to paddock till the whole eeven 
are accounted for. Next year the shooter- 
scours the same land in vain, and 
straightway petitions Parliament to have 
the quail protected for a period of three 
years. Our brown or swamp quail 
are not so likely to get exterminated, as 
they protect themselves to a large degree 
by inhabiting rough, wet land, where 
cover is always plentiful, and cats, by 
their dislike to water, are prevented from 
raiding their sanctuary. Brown birds 
will not stand the same amount of shoot- 
ing as their grey cousins, and will very 
quickly leave a locality if disturbed too 
often. They have one peculiarity, which 
should lie more widely known than it fi 
at present. A bevy of birds, if not 
broken up, will remain in company and 
not breed for a number of seasons. You 
will often hear the remark in the country 
when you enquire about quail from the 
farmer, “There is a nice lot of brown 
birds in my swamp, hut though 1 never 
allow them to be "shot, they do not in¬ 
crease.” Some years ago, at Risdon, a 
bevy of eight birds arrived on my shoot¬ 
ing ground, where not a bird had been 
seen for years. The time was about the 
middle of June, and I was sorely tempted 
to have a crack at them, bnt knowing 
that they were not likely to come under 
the notice of other shooters owing 
to the almost barren ground they 
occupied, it was decided to leave 
them for another season, fondly pictur¬ 
ing splendid sport on the opening day of 
the following year. I used to go over 
there every "Wednesday afternoon, rain 
or fine, taking a small packet of canary 
-eed to S]*inkle about their haunts. Often 
none were seen, but from the marks 
amongst the grass and rushes it was 
evident that they were still there. The 
long-lookcd-for day arrived at last, but 
all I could find were seven birds. After¬ 
wards I put into practice knowledge 
gleaned from the gamekeepers in Scot¬ 
land, and shot the old birds, but let the 
young go. Next year twenty brace were 
bagged and a few were left for next sea¬ 
son. The only way that I can suggest to 
restock land Limit has lieen shot qnt is— 
to use an American expression—“plant” 
quail. Secure two or three pairs of adult 
birds, and confine them in small aviaries, 
say about ten feet square, with the 
earth for a floor, and, if possible, growing 
tufts of gTass in the corners. They 
■will nest behind these, and if not dis¬ 
turbed, will rear their young without 
much trouble. A plentiful supply of 
hard-boiler) eggs ami canary seed will be 
sufficient food. They wni most likely rear 
two broods in the one season. My bird3 
laid five times this year, and hatched a 
goodly number of young. The young birds 
should be kept ia the aviaries until the 
end of October, and then turned out in 
pairs, selecting spots some little distance 
apart, as the males are great fighters. 
Both varieties can be treated in the same 
manner. Jf our sportsmen would only 
practice a little self-ck>nial while in the 
field, by levying toll, sav up to two-thirds 
of the birds they find, we should have a 
brighter prospect to look forward to. 
Another suggestion 1 should like to make 
to farmers would be that they limit the 
number of brace their friends shoot each 
season. Most farmers can form a pretty 
accurate estimate of the number of birds 
on their lands, and, by Hmiting the num¬ 
ber shot,they could always ensure having 
a good breeding stock left at the end of 
each shooting season. In dealing with 
imported game, the pheasant claims pre¬ 
mier position. 1 can see no reason why 
pheasants should not be reared in thou¬ 
sands in this fair isle of ours, with all 
its natural advantages. When one has 
seen the thousands of bird, reared by 
hand in England, when during the rearing 
months there is often a continual down¬ 
pour of rain, and contrasts it with the 
beautiful weather experienced here, it 
will be seen that Tasmania has many 
advantages. There are plenty of estates 
where everything would be in favour of 
the young birds. We who live in the 
city can, and do, rear pheasants with 
everything against us, and can form 
a good idea of how the birds would 
succeed in more favoured circumstancos. 
A beginner should start with a pen of 
birds consisting of four hens .mil one 
rooster, from which he should get about 
two hundred eggs, and with any sort of 
luck should rear quite half that number. 
