June, '10] NICE : POOD OF BOBWHITE 309 



last 8 weeks of his growth he gained 75 g. For the first 12 weeks his 

 average gain per day was 1.75 g. The average daily gain each week 

 was as follows: .5 g., .7 g., .8 g., 2.1 g., 1.6 g., 2.35 g., 2.4 g., 2.1 

 g., 2.1 g., 2.3 g., 2.3 g., 2 g. The next four weeks his growth was slow ; 

 the average daily gain each week was: .43 g., 1.1 g., .3 g., .7 g. 



At 4 months he weighed 170 g. which is an average adult weight for 

 him, although sometimes he has weighed from 12 to 19 grams more. 



In every case he was weighed before he had had anything to eat. 

 He always had all he would eat in the tests, but doubtless would have 

 eaten somewhat more in a wild state, for he would have exercised more 

 than he did when kept in confinement. I regret that I did not make 

 feeding tests in the first two weeks of his life, but I do not think he 

 ever ate more than two-thirds of his weight at the most. For the 

 first two or three days the chicks eat little, as the unabsorbed yolk 

 nourishes them. Charles W. Nash in "The Birds of Toronto" says: 



"For the first two or three months of their lives young quail feed 

 almost exclusively on insects, and each one will, while he is growing, 

 consume nearly its own weight of them every day." (11) 



Edward Harris states in ' ' The Quail the Best Insect and Weed Ex- 

 terminator Must be Better Protected" that: 



' ' A young quail will consume its own weight in insects every day. ' ' 

 (4) " 



My results do not agree with this. A bobwhite does not have to 

 eat so much nor grow so fast as those birds that are helpless until they 

 nearly reach adult size. 



As a result of these tests I have made an estimate of the amount 

 eaten by a bobwhite in a year. 



First 2 weeks, 72 g.=10,245 insects. The 8th day he ate 7 g. Count- 

 ing nothing for two days, we might assume he ate as follows : 4, 4, 4, 

 5, 6, 7, 7, 7. 7, 7, 7, 7,=72. In four of these days he ate 3,415 insects. 

 At the same rate in twelve he would have eaten 10,245. 



3rd and 4th weeks, 132 g.=5,334 insects. Actual tests. 



5th week, 88g.=3,520 insects. His average weight for this week 

 was 38.8. A third of that multiplied by 7 should give an estimate 

 of the amount eaten. With 40 insects to the gram, as was the case 

 in the two weeks before, the result is 3,520. 



6th week, 81 g.=812 insects+91 g. grain. In 3 days he ate 34.5 g. 

 =348 insects and 39 g. of grain. The week is calculated at the same 

 rate. 



Totals: 373 g.=10,911 insects+91 g. grain. 



In December, January, February, March, April and half of Novem- 

 ber the estimate is that found by 56 tests — 15 g. of weed seeds a day. 



