THE BOBWHITE OR QUAIL 



Another friend told me of her experience in finding a 

 lost baby-quail. It was too little and too weak to keep 

 up with the family — was probably the last bom. It was 

 so tired and distressed that when she knelt down and 

 placed her cupped hand near it, the poor little thing ran 

 to it, nestled down, and shut its eyes. She discovered the 

 brood and carried the baby over to join its family, but it 

 seemed loath to leave her. Three times it ran back to 

 the warm shelter of her hand. She could hardly bear to 

 abandon it to the life that seemed more than it could en- 

 dure. 



Dr. Judd made a careful study of the bobwhite. The 

 following extracts are from his report: "It is the general 

 opinion that with the on-coming of winter the bobwhite is 

 found less often in the open fields, when withered her- 

 baceous plants afford but scant protection from enemies, 

 than in dense bushy, briery coverts and woods. In Mary- 

 land and Virginia, the scattered and depleted coveys after 

 the shooting season evidently unite into large bevies. 

 Their favorite resort is a bank with a southern exposure 

 and suitable food-supply. 



"Robert Ridgway found a clutch of freshly deposited 

 eggs in soutliern Illinois on October 16, and H. C. Munger 

 found another set in Missouri in January, the parent being 

 afterwards found frozen on the nest. Authentic records 

 show that bobwhite has been known to breed, at least 

 occasionally, somewhere in its range every month in the 

 year. . . . 



"In Maryland and Virginia large land-owners often 

 feed their birds in severe weather. Wheat and corn are 

 the best food and should be scattered, if possible, among 

 the briers where the birds are safe from hawks. Bob- 



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