Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-11-14
Gales and Sketthes.
Quail and Partridge.
SPORT THE GUSNERs ARE FINDING IN
CONNECTICUT.

CONNECTICUT.
Gunners, with their dogs, have had I'M
commonly good sportin rulth.essly slaugh.
tering the quail" or bob White "
(properly the American PARTRIDGE in our
Connecticut fields and pastures during all
the October of this fine autumn and they
are still at it amid the now frost-brown
stubble. the garnered buckwheat fields.
and the borders OF the almost bare No
vemher woods. This fine table bird, 50
closely related to our domestic poultry has
been unusually plenty in Connecticut this
wear; remarkable fact, in view OF the
merciless persecution and slaughter to
which they are subjected by alleged sports
men, Quails are not tar northern travel
ers. Connecticut is practically about the
| limit OF their northern range. A few are
found in Massachusetts, but the quail
rarely extends its breeding grounds north
of that State Here in Connecticut it is
abundant in favorable years, such as the
present year has been-but this could not
be. were it not for the very prolific char
acter and habit OF this game bird, which. in
spite of ill-treatment. so confidently seeks
the old farms. and the neighborhoods of
humankind, throughout the region OF its
birth. How prolific it is, almost
every observing country lad knows.
If the reader has ever lived on farm,
and extended his investigations of the
EQUAL" and his habits so far as to find the
artfully hidden nest. concealed by COW
ering of grass or bushes in some very
-of-the-way place, by the side of an old
brush heap or tangled thicket by the old
stone wall or the woodside, or sometimes
in the woods themselves. he will remem-
Der the sensation at beholding a whole
nesttul of eggs-a dozen, fifteen, eighteen,
or even, in not few instances, two doz-
en- in one nest. In favorable years more
than one brood is reared. The male bird
is often a practical Mormon, and the
husband of more wives than one. Indeed
the American partridge, universally, but
incorrectly known as the quail. seems to
be of lax family morals all round, for it is
almost certain that of the nests of two
dozen eggs, portion of the collection
has been contributed by some other moth
er bird than the one that is incubating the
eggs. and that this intruder has gone off
to raise another brood of her own, else
where. 1t is happy illustration of the wise
bountitulness of nature that in most exam
pies it is the choicest and the best of her
fishes and her birds and her other crea-
lures and fruits, that are most prolific and
accessible to man. Perhaps nature, in
scattering these lavish distributions, takes
no more heed of man than she does of the
mink or the grasshopper-and yet, it does
oftenimes seem as if the situation must be
the outgrowth of laws and principles
which however inconceivably they may
antedate man, are yet working out ben
efficient purpose in their special adapta.
ton to human requirements. Our miss
called Connecticut quail is an example.
It's fecunditv gives us a general supply of
what is. undoubtedly, next to the wood
cock, the most toothsome and delicious of
all our game or table birds.
1t might be better protected, and hence
more abundant. If. when in winter it is
driven across the deep snow, in starving
fiOcks, toward tho farmers BARNARD in
search of food, the quail were only met by
a scattered handful of grain, instead OF
snares, traps and shotguns, the result
would be the saving of great many birds
that now perish by cold and starvation,
besides the cultivation of a very pretty
and pleasant exhibition of confidence and
familiarity on their part and a greatly
increased number in the season for the
table. These fine game birds might with
proper treatment easily be made more
abundant and therefore cheaper in the
market. They can be cultivated" al
most like the farmers poultry, with which
indeed. they sometimes actually mingle,
when in very severe winters the depth of
the February snow and the polar cold
unite to force them in self-preservation to
quit the no longer hospitable woods and
seek the barnyard in quest of the food
which they cannot find elsewhere.
Our New England partridge
eously so.called, and mistakenly called
the ''quailn in the South-but which is
really the rutfed grouse-is a tougher Gus
toner and better fitted to survive the rigors
of our polar winters, But in some winters
even that enduring bird dies amid the
snow drifts in the woods which no longer
afford him the means of sustenance.
Just at present he is being relentlessly
hunted and trapped for market. The
grouse is a fine table bird, but not quite
equal to the quail" or real partridge.
Its flesh, though remarkably fine. is nat
urally dry. and will bear Harding, in the
cooks oven. with strips of salt pork
But it is fine served up as stew fricassee
A lady who always superntends her own
cooking. and is noted for the savory dishes
on her table, says the PARTRIDGE is finest
stuffed, larded, and roasted, (baked)
Another gives her way Of cooking them,
which we indorse. Lard the birds plen-
tifully and broil over wood Goals, shaking
on little cayenne pepper. and adding a
squeeze or two of lemon juice before serv-
ing .-HdrJord Times