38 



BOB- WHITE 



It eats the potato beetle — seventy-five potato bugs 

 were found in one Quail stomach — and it is par- 

 ticularly fond of the moth that lays the egg that 

 produces the injurious, omnivorous cutworm. As 

 each moth lays multitudes of eggs, the destruction 

 of a few thousands of moths at the right time 



Fig. 15. 

 Cutworm, eateu b}- Quail. 



would prevent the hatching of an army of worms 

 able to destroy large fields of corn and grain ; so 

 that in a field where there were a few old Quail, 

 as the birds raise two to three broods of from ten 

 to thirty young each, but few moths would lay 

 their eo-g-s. It would be wise for other states to 

 follow the example of Wisconsin and introduce 

 fresh Quail in the old haunts where they have 

 been thoughtlessly exterminated. Aside from 

 the use of the Quails as game birds, their numbers 

 suffer great loss by winter snows ; for like their 



