Bud Maytag's Pets-Quail

Object NamePrint

Artist / Maker Jay Norwood Darling (American, 1876 - 1962)

Date1930

MediumDrypoint

Dimensions8 9/16 x 13 15/16 in. (21.7 x 35.4 cm)

ClassificationsPrints and Printing Plates

Credit LineGift of the J. N. "Ding" Darling Foundation. In the permanent collection, Brunnier Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberUM82.283

Status

Not on view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextNorthern Bobwhites are the quintessential game birds. Small and fast, they hold still for both hunting dogs and fox, and then rise as a group, racing for heavy cover. Therein is their hope for escape: confuse the predator with numbers and speed, regardless of whether it is a person with a gun or a hungry canid. Bud Maytag is only one of many who have raised quail. While he may have raised them for eventual table fare or to train his hunting dog, it was more likely to release them in the fall. For decades, people have attempted to "supplement" the populations of quail by raising them in captive pens and releasing them. While a few may survive to make fall hunts a bit more productive, research shows that captive-raised birds simply don't survive to add anything to the population. It's the wild ones that count and for that they need habitat. "Bud" Maytag, of Newton, Iowa, was a friend of Darling's, and he raised quail for a hobby. The tree in the lower right area of the print is similar to the tree on the marsh island in "Untitled (flock of bluebills landing)." The quail reappear both in Darling's cartoons and another print showing the virgin Iowa prairie. The raising quail also appear in the cartoon published in the "Des Moines Register" the day after Darling's death in 1962.

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