28 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



gentle gather call, quoi-hee, quoi-hee, from a distant patch of scrub 

 oaks, an answering call from the brier patch in the swale, and an- 

 other from the edge of the near-by woods. They are content to call 

 it a day and leave the gentle birds to settle down for the night. 



Enemies. — Quail have numerous enemies, furred, feathered, and 

 scaled, but fortunately they are such persistent and prolific breeders 

 that they can stand the strain from natural enemies if man will give 

 them half a chance. 



Stray cats, or domestic cats run wild, are doubtless the most 

 destructive enemies of quail. They catch and devour enormous num- 

 bers of both young and old birds, as they hunt them day and night. 

 Mr. Forbush (1927) gives some striking illustrations of this and 

 speaks of one big cat that is said to have killed more than 200 bob- 

 whites. Dogs that are allowed to run loose and hunt independently 

 kill a great many old and young birds. Stray cats in the woods 

 and fields should be shot on sight. Domestic cats and dogs should 

 be restrained during the nesting season. 



In Jamaica the mongoose is said to have virtually exterminated 

 the introduced quail. Foxes, minks, and weasels kill some birds, but 

 they probably find rabbits easier to catch and more to their liking. 

 Raccoons, opossums, skunks, and rats destroy a great many eggs. 



Among bird enemies the crow is one of the worst. Crows are 

 very clever in hunting up nests and destroy a great many eggs; 

 they have even been known to kill the adult birds in winter. Crows, 

 in my opinion, should be shot whenever possible, for they can not 

 be much reduced at best. Cooper's hawk is probably the worst of 

 the hawks. The goshawk and the sharp-shinned hawk are almost 

 as bad. Red-tailed hawks have been known to kill quail, but they 

 are too slow to catch very many, and they are useful as rodent de- 

 stroyers. Great horned and other owls must be reckoned with, but 

 the former is very fond of skunks, and all the owls keep the destruc- 

 tive rodents in check. Quail have learned that brier patches and 

 thick tangles offer good protection against their enemies in the air. 



Any of the larger snakes will eat the eggs and probably destroy 

 a great many, but here again we must give them credit for living 

 largely on the rodent enemies of the bobwhite. Major Bendire (1892) 

 speaks of a large rattlesnake, killed in Texas, that had swallowed 

 five adult quail at one meal, and another that had taken four bob- 

 whites and a scaled quail. 



In his chapter on mortality, Stoddard (1931) states that of 602 

 nests studied about " 36 per cent were more or less successful and 

 about 64 per cent unsuccessful." The failures were due to nest de- 

 sertion, destruction by natural enemies, destruction by the elements, 

 rains, floods, or droughts, and disturbance by human beings, by farm 



