The sun., 1902-04-27

q couple OF sips a day is about all II needs;
but II cannot stand cold or wet. A rainy
spring will destroy or defertilize unoount-
able eggs and the young ones die in wet
grass.
The best quail lands In this country are
in western Texas, where the winters are
mild and open. the springs are dry and In
summer time there are always cattle tanks
and other bodies Of permanent water TO
which the birds may resort. Some OF the
bevies in that region reach a number un-
heard Of in the North.
=. Commonly, through the Northwest and
Northeast, the number Of individuals i'm
a quail bevy will run from four to ten.
Twelve makes large bevy indeed. In
Texas and in northern Louisiana the bevies
will run from fifteen to twenty-five. This
last number is not at all exceptional and
Il often surpassed, though a bevy Of twenty
five grown birds means that from thirty
to thirty-fve were hatched
The birds down there are well suited in
climate and cover, but they have many
natural enemies. This is not bad thing.
as but for natural enemies-hawks, foxes,
wildcats, skunks, minks, dc.-quails would
outnumber any bird we have.
The female lays from twenty-five to
forty-fye eggs and matches a large pro-
portion Of them. In the far Rio Grande
country she often raises two broods In a
year. Sometimes giant bevies are found
which are due to the mixture Of two bevies
which are temporarily one, though they
will always separate, each family going
TO itself before sunset.
This is strange, hut stranger still Is the
fact that IL two bevies be scattered in one
field and quiet reigns for awhile, they will
all begin calling and each will join it's proper
companions, though there is no appreciable
difference in the sound Of the calls Bevies
which have been mixed will sometim lines
show total Of more than fifty birds.
Generally, of course. it Ia impossible TO
tell in the case of an abnormally large bevy
whether or not il is really two bevies, but
there are instances OF bevies which have
been watched from the nest or else have
been so frequently flushed in the same
locality that their identity has been estab-
and hatohed in an abandoned field in Bossier
parish, Louisiana, not far from Cypress
bayou.
An old negro first found the nest and
noticed the great number OF eggs IL con-
tained. It was as full as It could hold and
the next day the hen began setting. The
season was good and the eggs all hatched
When the little fellows, not 80 large as
the first joint Of mans thumb, got out OF
the shells, there were forty-four OF them.
The bevy was exceptionally favored and
forty Of it's members reached maturity.
They lived in a cornfield next to the waste
land on which they were hatched and got
their water at a small branch which ran
into Cypress bayou Running in single
file down a cowpath which led TO the ford,
they presented many opportunities to be
counted. The old negro going to the
county seat talked incautiously about the
great size of this bevy and some hunters
came and thinned il materially.
There Ia another instance Of bevy con-
tanning thrty-six birds hatched in Kendall
county, Texas. in the first week in Novem-
ber They were all captured when not
more than two days old, counted and turned
loose. This undoubtedly was the second
brood Of the year.