258 Bird-Lore 



As a destroyer of weeds, Bob-white stands preeminent. Mrs. Nice gives 

 a list of 129 weeds, the seeds of which are eaten by this little gleaner. These 

 seeds are digested and the germs thus destroyed. The number of seeds taken 

 by one bird at a single meal varies from 105 seeds of stinkweed and 400 of 

 pigweed to 5,000 of pigeon grass and 10,000 of lamb's quarters; while the 

 number taken by one bird in a day varies from 600 of burdock to 30,000 of 

 rabbit's-foot clover. Dr. Sylvester Judd, by a careful computation, reaches 

 the conclusion that the Bob-whites of Virginia and North Carolina consume 

 annually, from September i to April 30, 1,341 tons of weed seeds, and that from 

 June I to August 31, they eat 340 tons of insects. 



If we take as our measure the quantity of weed seeds and insects eaten by 

 captive Quail, as given by Mrs. Nice, we find that a family consisting of two 

 adult birds and ten young would consume 780,915 insects and 5-9,707,888 weed 

 seeds in a year, in addition to their other food. 



The annual loss due to insects in the United States now reaches one billion 

 dollars, and the injury caused by weeds in this country is estimated at seventeen 

 million dollars a year. 



Methods of Thus far, the principal method of protecting the Bob- white 



Protection and has been the passage of laws forbidding market-hunting, 

 ropaga ion ^^ export, restricting the shooting season to one or two months 

 in the year, and limiting the number of birds that the sportsman is allowed 

 to take. In the South, however, and in some localities in the North and 

 West, the birds are protected and increased on preserves. Bob-white has been 

 numerous for years in North Carolina, where the system of game-preserves 

 has been brought to greater perfection than in any other part of the country. 

 Guilford county alone has more than 15,000 acres on which this bird is pro- 

 tected, where gunning is so regulated, and the natural enemies are so con- 

 trolled, that the birds maintain their numbers; but in the North something 

 more than protection on game preserves will be necessary to multiply them. 

 Their artificial production is an absolute necessity. Even in Audubon's time, 

 Bob-white was reared successfully in confinement. Recent experiments show 

 that Bob-white can be reared in captivity and absolutely domesticated. 

 Dr. C. F. Hodge, of Clark University, at Worcester, Mass., has reared flocks 

 of young birds under their parents, under hens, and with incubators, and 

 has demonstrated that they may be given their liberty and will return to the 

 hand when called. The Massachusetts Commissioners on Fisheries and Game 

 have reared about four hundred Bob- whites in confinement, in 1910. They 

 use incubators and brooders, as well as the natural method. This work, now 

 in the experimental stage, requires only experience and a knowledge of the 

 methods of controlling the diseases of these birds to make it practicable on 

 a large scale. Eventually, it will be possible to raise Bob-whites in large num- 

 bers on game farms, and to keep a stock over winter in captivity, with which 

 to replenish the coveys whenever severe winters deplete them. 



