THE VIRGINIAN COLIN OR BOB WHITE QUAIL, A HELMINGHAM EXPERIMENT by
T H E LORD
TOLLEMACHE
OĂźRfirstexperimentwithBob Whites were a hundred eggs in 1956, of which we reared about 50%. All of these died when they were well feathered, through eating some phosphorous fertilizer which the gardener had placed round the trees in the orchard where we had reared them. The last experiment was when my brother-in-law, in 1957, brought four hundred eggs from Pennsylvania in the Queen Elizabeth, turning them over every night. We hatched about 75% and reared over 50% of these and loosed them in coveys all over this 6,000 acre estate. There were certain areas which they did not seem to like and they moved off. For instance, in Helmingham village they moved down the brook towards Ashbocking and disappeared off the Estate in the Gosbeck direction, where I believe some were shot. Some were shot, also, in the Pettistree area. The next Spring of 1958 was disastrous for rearing and only one or two coveys were reared. A number of nests were destroyed in 1958 and again in 1959, as these birds seem to have a predilection for choosing roadside sites where they are either cut out or destroyed by road workers. The nest is a domed-shaped affair inside a tussock of grass and the eggs are pure white about the size of a blackbird's. This last season of 1959/60 we have seen a number of coveys on the north part of the Estate where the hedges are rougher and there is a certain amount of less well-cultivated land. I understand there are a couple of coveys just off the Estate at Framsden on Mr. George Fox's farm, Boundary Farm, where the fritillaries grow. There is also a covey along the low ground by the little river on my own land and another covey between High Row Wood and Framsden. Three birds were shot out of the latter covey at the shoot at the end of the season. We do not go out of our way to shoot these birds but one cannot resist the opportunity occasionally. They are delicious eating, much plumper and more tender than a partridge. Quail are very difficult to find or to flush unless they are almost trod upon or put up by a dog and my original idea of driving them has not been successful, although from time to time they have come over with the partridges. They are best obviously in rather rough country where they would be found by Pointers and flushed
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by Spaniels. There is no doubt, however, there are still quite a large quantity of these birds around although naturally a number have wandered off the Estate in search of more suitable ground. I think they prefer lighter land and also they want the less cultivated land for cover and they like to live in slightly rougher ground, but they do need the cultivated lands for feed. The chicks are more vigorous and hardier than young partridges—-just like big ants ! We hear them calling a lot in the Spring and a number of people have asked who or what it is that they hear whistling. I was most interested to learn that they had been introduced into the Breck district. I imagine the vermin there were pretty bad and also there was not enough corn for them. T i c e h u r s t , in his " Birds of Suffolk " , 1932, p. 486, has t h e following :— " T h e Virginian Colin or B o b W h i t e (Colinus virginianus) has on m a n y occasions b e e n i n t r o d u c e d in t h e Breck district a n d has b r e d t h e r e b u t t h e e x p e r i m e n t s h a v e always failed to establish this little A m e r i c a n Q u a i l . " T h i s f u r t h e r H e l m i n g h a m a t t e m p t will be followed w i t h interest.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ARTIFICIAL DISTRIBUTION OF HEDGEHOGS. Düring the early summer a number of dead hedgehogs were found on the YarmouthAcle road, an unusual occurrence since hedgehogs are extremely uncommon on the marshes. Later in the year two were brought to me having been picked up on the quayside opposite a large food factory. These last must have been brought here in loads of pea vines and it seems probable that those found on the Acle road had fallen from some of the many loads which pass that way. R . H . HARRISON, Gt. Yarmouth. WATER SHREW (Neomys fodiens). I watched a water shrew in a drying up pond at Hitcham at various dates in September, 1959. I was amazed at its skill in catching small water beetles which it brought ashore and then ate sitting under an old water tank at the water's edge. A. L. BULL, Hitcham. MOLE (Talpa europaea) SWIMMING. In a newly cleaned ditch down the centre of which a foot wide stream was running three or four inches deep I watched a mole walk out from the dry edge, wade into the water and swim downstream for ten yards. At this point a root across the ditch bottom formed a miniature waterfall and the mole climbed along this to the side, walked on the dry edge to his original position upstream and again entered the water and swam to the root. He made the same trip three times before sensing my presence and taking cover. Was he sporting, searching for worms, or drowning his fleas ? H. G. BARRETT. Street Farm, Great Glemham.