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Bird - Lore 



grass over which live grasses had been 

 bent. This was the secret of the two birds, 

 whom two weeks before for the first time 

 and often since we had seen wading in the 

 grass below the house, twittering first and 

 then flying, and ever giving the mourn- 

 ful, plaintive cries. We never went near 

 the nest again — that skunks and other 

 foes might not follow our trail and cause 

 tragedy. But we watched with field 

 glasses from the upstairs windows. The 

 birds relieved each other at the nest — a 

 true division of domestic cares: one bird 

 would alight at a long distance, fold his 

 wings, utter no cry, and, with head held 

 low, walk through the grass, squatting 

 lower and lower till finally he disappeared 

 on the nest; then the female would retreat 

 with the same caution, not spreading her 

 wings till far from the eggs. 



Often on the grass terrace before the 

 house — a platform sloping sharply down 

 into the pasture — the male sandpiper 

 would slowly strut; was he playing sen- 

 tinel for his little family or cheering his 

 lady-wife? Up and down, up and down, 

 day after day walked the little father, 

 wary and determined; that the piazza 

 and living portion of the house faced him 

 thirty feet away made no difference in his 

 course. The Great Dane, corralled by the 

 anxious family in the house, watched 

 through the windows or from his chained 

 post on the piazza. Baldur was a leashed 

 dogship those days, for no chance could be 

 taken that his great paws should crush 

 the frail eggs or the helpless chicks. 



They grew up, I am sure, those jeal- 

 ously guarded babies, and wade today 

 our grassy slopes above the Connecticut 

 Valley, eating grass-worms and grass- 

 hoppers. Next year we may find more 

 nests; and perhaps our safe, secluded 

 pasture may prove a recruiting ground 

 for the lost legion of the Upland Plover 

 race. — Katharine Upham Hunter, West 

 Chiremont, N . H . 



Bob-white in the West 



In introducing Bob-white, Colinus vir- 

 ginianus, into the western states, little 



thought to the natural environments of 

 this most desirable of game birds has been 

 given. Those who have exhibited much 

 devotion to bird-life are actuated by com- 

 mendable motives, when they endeavor 

 to give to western fields the little brown 

 birds that have proven such industrious 

 partners to the farmers in the South in 

 their efforts to combat insect pests. The 

 more a community has to offer in the way 

 of a plenitude of bird-life, the more it 

 can boast of its freedom from harmful 

 creatures, and the esthetic side, too, 

 gains much. 



Probably, if conditions where Bob- 

 whites thrive were taken into considera- 

 tion, greater success would follow their 

 introduction into new places. The effects 

 of capture, long travel, confinement, and 

 the many other nervous little jars during 

 their change from place, right at the start 

 militate against their welfare. The better 

 side only of the traffic in game birds we 

 hear of; the loss of bird-life in this way is 

 seldom mentioned. Even a change of 

 water may have some appreciable influ- 

 ence on quails. But how, when and where 

 they are liberated after their arrival are 

 the most important subjects to be thought 

 of. On these depend the burden of their 

 future existence and perpetuation of 

 their kind. 



Sportsmen have been the ones who have 

 done most for the propagation of Bob- 

 whites in new countries. In truth, in this 

 the inspiration for later sport with gun 

 and dog has been the incentive, but yet 

 field trial clubs in many places have been 

 content to have these birds solely to 

 observe the work of their setters and 

 pointers on them. Others start to raise 

 quails because they wish them on their 

 estates, and they love them as they love 

 all bird-life, and do all in their power to 

 protect them. 



The average place where quails have 

 been planted in the West has been a ranch 

 that has been kept scrupulously clean of 

 foul weed growths. It seems that only 

 the richer class and those who have suc- 

 ceeded in their farming attempts aspire 

 to have Bob-whites established in their 



