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CONSERVATION NOTES 







AMERICA'S 

 WILD CHICKENS 



Most natural environments in the United States once had at 

 least one kind of Nature's wild chickens, the upland game birds. 

 Just as there are many kinds of environments --forests, deserts, 

 prairies --there also are many species of upland game birds, each 

 adapted to live in one of these environments. To this group of 

 native American birds belong the quails, grouse, wild turkey, and 

 chachalaca. Like domestic chickens they are ground dwellers. 

 They scratch chickenlike in the earth for seeds, grubs, insects, 

 bulblets, and gravel. Some cluck, others crow, cackle, or whistle. 

 They range in size from the little Bobwhite of 6 or 7 ounces to 

 the Wild Turkey that weighs 15 or 20 pounds. 



QUAILS 



A farm in the eastern United States without its Bobwhite Ouail 

 is rare. Perched on a fence post near a brushy gully, the chunky 

 little male whistles his cheerful Bob -bob -white . In summer after 

 the fannily is raised. Bob and his mate may even come into your 

 garden looking for insects. He is a valued friend of the farmer 

 and gardener. He never harms crops and throughout the summer 

 eats thousands of weed seeds, grasshoppers, beetles, and potato 

 bugs. Many farmers leave brush in fence rows and along road- 

 sides for their quail; some leave patches of grain at the edge of 

 the fields. This nrieans the birds will have places to hide from 

 their enemies and to build their nests; and the covey will have 

 food when the snows come. 



The Scaled Quail or Blue Quail belongs to our arid Southwest. 

 The somber blue -gray birds are easily recognized by their short 

 white -tipped crests and scale -patterned breasts. They frequent 

 the nnouths of canyons and weedy, grassy washes and river 

 valleys. They become very tame about ranches where they go for 

 water; often their nests are found in nearby haystacks. When 

 startled they run swiftly under a clump of cactus or sagebrush. 

 Scaled Quail may be numerous one year and scarce the next; 

 heavy rains or drought during the nesting season kills many 

 chicks. Heavy grazing has reduced their nunnbers many places. 

 Grazing cattle strip the land of grass and brush the birds need 

 to hide their nests and protect them from their enemies. 



•6 HOiP 



Bobwhite Quail 



v. S. Department of the Interior, Stewart L. Udall, Secretary 



Fish and Wildlife Service 



Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, Daniel H. Janzen, Director 



