Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-10-09
TANNING The ouAiLs
Buckwheat and Gradual Advances ConQu
he wild VRfrda

TANNING THE QUAiLS.
Buckwheat and Gradual Advances Conquer
the wild Birds.
Several weeks ago Mrs D. N. Snyder,
of Jefferson township saw a lot of quails
busting themselves under some currant
bushes in the back end of her garden
The birds looked so happy and con-
tented that she thought it would be too
bad to disturb them so she returned to
the house without pulling the weeds
out of a patch of onions that she had
gone there for the purpose of doing. In
an hour or SO the quails had disappeared
in the tall timothy of an adjoining
meadow. and Mrs Snyder scattered some
buckwheat around where they had been
wallowing. On the following day the
birds came there again. gobbled up the
buckwheat, and had good time.
Every day for a week or so Mrs Snyder
scattered grain among the bushes for
the quails to feed on, and the birds soon
got so that they looked for food in the
garden as regularly as they did for a
resting place at night out in the woods,
back of the big meadow lot.
One morning the kind-hearted woman
forgot to throw the buckwheat but the
4odiAo TSuluQcu nSI VI ucI ucR1lgGuC6
by appearing at the usual hour and
making great fuss and noise because
there wasn't any grain in the garden
for them to pick up Mrs Snyder let
the birds hunt for other kinds of food
that day, and for several mornings after
that she didn't fail to give them good
feed of buckwheat Then she missed a
morning on purpose to see how the
quails would act when they didn't find
any grain near the currant bushes.
watching from a second-story window
for them to make their appearance.
Promptly on time the whole flock
crept under the garden fence from the
meadow, ran among the bushes. and be-
gan to dodge and hutter about where
they had been in the habit of finding
the buckwheat When they had
searched long enough to learn that no
grain had been put there for them, the
birds piped in low tones, futtered I'M
easily, scattered into the vegetable beds,
and appeared to be very much disap-
poin ted. In little while the quails
gave up the search, assem- bled under
the currant bushes. and went to busting
themselves in the soil Mrs. Snyder
counted fourteen in the flock, and then
Su0 WOAt 0oWu gov q O1
buckwheat and tiptoed her way into
the garden. When she had got as near
to the quails as she could get without
soaring them, Mrs Snyder flung hand
full of buckwheat toward the quiet
little flock. 1t fell among them. and
they all scampered under the fence and
went out of sight in hurry. Then
she threw some more of the grain
-
been, and secreted herself behind row
of pea vines. Presently one of the birds
ventured to crawl under the fence into
the garden. 1t soon found the buck
wheat, and set to filling its crop, and at
this the other birds took courage. filed
from their hiding places. and went to
picking up the grain as though each was
determined to get its share.
From her place of concea1ment Mrs.
Snyder flung a handful of buck wheat
into the air, so that it fell into the midst
of the flock. 1t scared the birds a little,
but they quickly resumed their feeding
and Mrs. Snyder began to whistle to
them. hinging more grain into the air
as she whistled. That excited their GU
riosity just enough to make them look
up for moment and Mrs Snyder emp
tied the basin and stole away, without
letting the birds see her. She fed the
quails in this way for few days, grad
ually got them used to her whistle and
voice, and let them get sight of her by
degrees Inside of month from the
time she first saw the birds in 1he gar
den she had them so we'll tanDed that
they f1uttered out Of the meadow when
ever she called them, ate in her pres
ence, and did not seem to fear her at all
Since then Mrs Snyder has taken a good
deal of comfort with her strange little
flock, and she said the other day that
the confidence the birds have in her pays
her many times over for all the trouble
she has made herself in getting the wild
little creatures to be as tame as they
are.-Scranton (Pa-) Cor. n. Y. Sun.