BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



whites have been known to feed with chickens in barn- 

 yards. By a little forethought land-owners and sportsmen 

 can easily make provision for their birds. Sumac bushes 

 should be left along hedgerows and the edge of woodland 

 to furnish food that is always above the snow and lasts 

 well into spring. . . . The bayberry and wax-myrtle last 

 until May, also. 



"The food habits of the bobwhite are noteworthy in sev- 

 eral respects. Vegetable matter has long been known to 

 be an important element in the food of the bobwhite. 

 Grain-eating birds are likely to do much harm to 

 crops. . . . The bobwhite is a notable exception. Not a 

 single sprouting kernel was found in the crops and stom- 

 achs of quail examined." ^ 



Dr. Judd enumerates eighty-eight varieties of weed 

 seeds that are eaten by quail, and states an amazing num- 

 ber eaten at one time. "One bird shot at Marshall Hall 

 had eaten 1000 ragweed akenes; another contained [quan- 

 tities of] leguminous seeds, mainly tick-trefoil; a third 

 had eaten 5000 seeds of green foxtail grass, while a fourth 

 had taken about 10000 [infinitesimal] pigweed seeds." ^ 



As an insect-destroyer the bobwhite is of enormous 

 value. During the summer, insects form more then one- 

 third of its food. Over one hundred varieties had been 

 discovered by examination of the stomachs of quail in 

 1905, an unusually large proportion of which were highly 

 injurious to crops. Mr. Forbush thinks that no farmer 

 in Massachusetts can afford to shoot a quail or allow it to 

 be shot on his land, and that if the markets must be sup- 

 plied, quail must be reared artificially. 



1 & 2 Bulletin No. 21, Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. 



[42] 



