Quail Culture. 
Brooklyn, Dec. io.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
It was through the instructive columns of Forest 
and Stream that we learned our first lessons in 
“quail culture,” so it is but fair that your readers 
should profit by our experience. The following 
report of the Rapidan Game Preserve, there¬ 
fore, is given with the hope that others may 
be induced to promote and protect the unique 
and exhilarating sport of quail shooting. 
In the start we profited greatly by the ex¬ 
perience and ideas advanced by Mr. Cyrus A. 
Taft, who gave in your magazine a full account 
of feeding southern and western quail in Whit- 
insville, Mass., during the winter of 1904-1905. 
He showed that with plenty of good food and 
cover, southern quail could withstand the 
severest" New England winters. 
About a year ago, with the idea of giving 
their many friends some good sport, Mr. 
William E. Harmon, of New York, the writer, 
and others secured game leases upon 10,000 acres 
of Virginia lands from farmers living on each 
side of the Rapidan River, just below Raccoon 
Ford, Va. These lands are particularly well 
adapted to quail culture and semi-open shooting. 
■ We had some difficulty in finding the live 
quail, but finally, after considerable correspond¬ 
ence, we succeeded in securing forty dozen live 
birds from Alabama. Twenty dozen of these 
birds were turned out the latter part of January, 
and the rest were “planted” during the months 
of February and March of'the present year. 
The Alabama quail were released in wigwams 
or bird harbors, made of pine brush—a sort of 
brush-rick—by simply driving two forked stakes 
in the ground some ten feet apart, and placing 
thereon a long pole. Against this pole, pine 
brush was placed, so as to leave a vacant space 
underneath in the form of the letter A; open¬ 
ings being left in order that the birds could slip 
out and escape visiting foxes, minks, etc. Along 
the center of .this harbor, a feed trough was 
arranged upon an incline, one end being two 
feet higher than the other, which rested on the 
ground. Cleats were nailed upon the bottoms 
of the feed" troughs, so that in case of heavy 
snows (unusual in Virginia) the birds could al¬ 
ways get food above the “snow line.” Care was 
taken to pla'ce the harbors where the birds could 
easily get water, and where they would be 
sheltered from the cold winds, and protected, as 
far as possible, from the hawks. The birds 
should be “planted” where they can reach cover 
easily. 
On Jan. 26 the writer personally released ten 
dozen live birds, and in visiting the harbors on 
Jan. 27, every bird (each covey) was found “at 
home.” This experience, to the writer’s mind, 
establishes beyond doubt the best system of re¬ 
leasing quail. Simply take a releasing box with 
a trap door, containing about six pairs of birds, 
enough to make a ring. Place the box under 
the bird harbor, and sprinkle plenty of cracked 
corn and wheat in front of the releasing box, 
and all along the feed trough; open the trap 
door and stand quietly twenty steps from the 
harbor. Within a few minutes after the trap is 
opened, the birds will come from the box and 
begin eating the cracked grain. 
Our southern quail were very much weakened 
by the trip in the express cars, and were fam¬ 
ished for water when they arrived. One flock 
which was released where the hawks could easily 
reach them was entirely destroyed before the 
birds regained their strength. Another flock, 
which was released'in a pine thicket, survived 
the winter with the loss of two birds only. This 
was also the most prolific flock we turned out. 
Three large flocks of young birds were known 
to be hatched and reared near this lucky bird 
harbor, and on Nov. 6, five large coveys were 
found within a mile radius of it by the writer, 
who bagged twenty-six full grown quail out of 
the twenty-nine that fell to the ground. It was 
a fine day’s shooting,. and the writer attributes 
h;s good sport to the fact that the mother birds 
were well crated when shipped, and well cared 
for in transit' to Virginia, and released in a well 
protected spot, where they could get plenty of 
good food and good water. The birds migrate 
in the pairing season. Farms two miles distant 
from the nearest harbor, which were without 
quail the year previous, are now well stocked 
with Alabama quail. If hawks are numerous, 
turn the birds out in February and March, but 
if they can be fed regularly and the cover is 
sufficient to protect them from hawks and snow 
storms, the writer would suggest that they be 
released in December or January. We had 
better luck with the late arrivals which were re¬ 
leased in March. This season we shall try 
some Kansas quail. 
Southern quail are not as large as the native 
Virginia partridge (quail), nor are they so gamy. 
FEED BOX BEFORE BEING COVERED WITH PINE BRUSH. 
The Virginia partridge is about one-third larger 
than the Alabama species, and is more distinctly 
marked with black and white feathers. The 
Alabama quail is more of a reddish-brown bird, 
and is not nearly as strong as the full breasted 
Virginia partridge, which should not be con¬ 
fused with a still larger bird known in Virginia 
as the pheasant, found only in the woods, close 
to thick cover. These pheasants are usually seen 
in pairs, and seem to be a large variety of 
grouse, somewhat larger (plumper) than the 
New York partridge. 
The greatest enemies to quail are crows, the 
shrewdest birds known. Crows are ravenous 
egg-eaters, and destroy the quail nests. These 
black-winged demons are multiplying more 
rapidly than any other bird. All sportsmen 
should make war upon these vicious egg-eaters. 
They can be poisoned with corn soaked in a 
solution of strychnine. They will, however, 
soon become suspicious of the grains of corn 
discolored by the strychnine, and it will then be 
necessary to open a small flap in the soft part 
of each grain, and drop enough strychnine in 
the hole to kill a crow; then close the flap, and 
press it down so as to make it appear as nearly 
as possible like the original grain. This corn 
should be dropped in places where the crows 
congregate, and out of reach of other birds. 
It takes a swift flying hawk to catch a full 
grown Virginia quail, but when the birds are 
weakened by continuous snow storms, the hawks 
simply feast upon them. By offering fifty cents 
each for hawk heads, the Rapidan Game Pre¬ 
serve has reduced this evil by about seventy 
scalps. Hawks can be trapped by putting a 
chicken under a wire netting where it can be 
easily seen by the hawks, and placing steel traps 
on the ground around the wire cage. The hawk 
becomes so intent upon catching the chicken 
that he is Sure to step upon one of the traps. 
Use a black chicken if snow is on the ground, 
and a white one when the wire crate can be 
placed in the field. William D. Buckner. 
[Every means should be employed to prevent 
quail and other small birds from gaining access 
to the poisoned corn.—E d.] 
New England Swans. 
The killing of the three swans in Massa¬ 
chusetts on Thanksgiving Day brings up the 
fact that in old times these birds regularly 
stopped in New England during the migra¬ 
tions. Morton in 1632 says, “And first of the 
Swanne, because she is the biggest of all the 
fowles of that Country. There are of them 
in Merrimack River, and in other parts of 
the Country, greate Store at the seasons of 
the yeare. The flesh is not much desired of 
the inhabitants, but the skinnes may be ac- 
compted a commodity fitt for divers uses, both 
for fethers and quiles.” 
The muddy mouths of wide estuaries- nat¬ 
urally furnish attractive stopping places for 
the swan. Lindley mentions the appearance 
of four swans at Stratford, Conn., in the mouth 
of the Housatonic River. In the spring of 
1876 two swans are reported to have been 
seen in Branford Harbor during a severe gale, 
and about the same time swans were seen near 
Milford, Conn. 
While the killing of a swan in the northern 
country or even down on the North Carolina 
coast, where the birds are of regular and 
abundant occurrence, is a feat worthy of ap¬ 
plause, many sportsmen will heartily depre¬ 
cate the killing of these Massachusetts speci¬ 
mens. 
“Young Folks’ Nature Field Book.” 
In these days of country life and nature study 
there is a distinct* place for Mr. J. Alden 
Loring’s little book with the above title. It is 
an attractive and interesting guide to nature 
study in the eastern United States and ought 
to be in the hands of parents and of instructors 
in all homes. There is no more wholesome sub¬ 
ject in which to interest young people than the 
common objects of our woods and fields. 
The book gives a short, timely nature story or 
hint for every day of the year, telling the reader 
at just what time in the successive seasons he 
should look for different birds, beasts and 
flowers, and how he may recognize and study 
them when taking observations abroad. On 
each left-hand page are given certain days of 
the month and the suggestions for the season, 
and facing these are blank right-hand pages, 
which may be filled with notes made by the 
observer. The book is small enough to slip 
into an overcoat pocket. 
Mr. Loring is a naturalist of experience, a 
member of the Ornithologists’ Union and has 
been connected with a number of our institu¬ 
tions in natural history work. His book is well 
brought together, and is beautifully illustrated, 
in part by photographs, but in large part also 
by beautiful drawings of birds from the pencil 
of Mr. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, the best Ameri¬ 
can bird painter of th'e day. If this book is 
properly brought to the attention of the right 
class of readers between now and spring, it 
ought to have a large sale. It deserves it. 
