THE OOLOGIST 



139 



Horneu and Barred Owls nave been 

 scarce this year on account oi" the 

 hunters killing them during tu',- win- 

 ter. 



The Screech and Barn Owls are as 

 plentiful as ever. They are in every 

 hollow not in use. 



American Osprey. One bird observ- 

 ed this year. Am still at the lake and 

 will be all summer so all the bird lov- 

 ers are welcome. 



Characteristics of the Quail. 



The natural food of the Quail con- 

 sists of the seeds of the vast number 

 of plants known as weeds, with a 'it- 

 tie foliage of the same, especially 'n 

 the winter when the leaves are young 

 and tender. Considering how small io 

 the amount of fruit usually found in 

 the stomach of this bird, it is a su/'- 

 prise to learn that it sometimes does 

 serious damage to vineyards. Inves- 

 tigation, however, shows that, as in 

 most other similar cases, the injury 

 results only when too many birds 

 gather in a limited area. Nearly all 

 the complaints against the Quail for 

 eating fruit are that it visits vine- 

 yard in immense numbers and eats 

 grapes. When thousands visit a vine- 

 yard, even if only occasionally, and 

 each bird eats or spoils at least one 

 grape, the result is disastrous. In the 

 writer's interviews with California 

 fruit growers, only one mentioned the 

 Quail as harmful. His ranch was sit- 

 uated along the hills on the side of 

 a narrow valley, adjacent to wild graz- 

 ing land with much chaparrel and for- 

 est, among which the Quail lived. In 

 this case the annual loss was estimat- 

 ed at two or three tons of grapes. 



In the laboratory investiagtion of 

 the food of these Quail, six hundred 

 nineteen stomachs were examined. An- 

 imal food, principally insects, amount- 

 ed to three per cent, of the food and 

 ninety-seven per cent, vegetable food 



The latter consists of seeds of plants, 

 most of which are noxious or trou- 

 blesome species. Ants appear to be a 

 favorite food, but the Quail will eat 

 caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, 

 flies, spiders, snails and scale insects. 

 In this connection the following ex- 

 tract from a letter from Dr. W. G. 

 Chambers of Los Angeles, is interest- 

 ing: 



"Last May during the hatching sea- 

 son one of my female Quail died a 

 week prior to completing the hatch. 

 An incandescent light of eight candle 

 power was substituted, the result being 

 tifteen baby Quail, very wild at first, 

 not understanding human souls or 

 language, but finally becoming as do- 

 cile as pet chickens. They were rais- 

 ed in my back yard, running at large 

 after the first week. A number of 

 Marguerite bushes which grew in pro- 

 fusion in the yard were so infested 

 with black scale that I had decided 

 to uproot them and had postponed do- 

 ing so as the Little Quail worked so 

 persistently among the branches. Up- 

 on investigation I discovered them 

 eating the scale, and twittering hap- 

 pily; they would swallow the fully de- 

 veloped scale and thoroughly clean 

 the branches of all those undeveloped. 



From numerous experiments and 

 careful analysis of the food of the 

 California Quail it is apparent that 

 under normal conditions the farmer 

 and fruit grower have nothing to fear 

 from its ravages. When, however, 

 large areas of chaparrel are cleared 

 and brought under cultivation it is nat- 

 ural that the products of garden and 

 vineyard should be eaten to a greater 

 or less extent by Quail, which abound 

 in such localities. On the other hand, 

 its seed-eating record is in its favor. 

 Usually there is little difficulty in get- 

 ting rid of superfluous game birds; in 

 fact, in most cases the trouble is to 

 prevent their exterminatigii. A bird 



