10 



our most highly prized, game birds, it is slaughtered annually in 

 tremendous numbers, frequently with no other object in view except- 

 ing for gain. Some also are killed by flying against electric wires, 

 while during severe winters entire coveys are sometimes smothered 

 or frozen under the snow. As a result, the helpfulness of the quail 

 against cliinch bugs is greatly diminished. It would seem that as 

 important an enemy of the chinch bug as this bird is known to be 

 would receive protective immunity throughout the agricultural 

 regions and that farmers would see to it that protective laws were 

 not only enacted but also stringently enforced. 



The following list will show the degree of protection offered the 

 quail by legislative enactment in the States where the chinch bug is 

 the most destructive (see map, fig. 6). The close seasons for quail 

 in the several States, during which killing is prohibited by law, are 

 as follows:" 



Maine, all the year. 



New York, December 1 to November 1, except in Dutchess, Putnam, Richmond, 

 Rockland, and Westchester counties, where it is closed until 1910. 

 Pennsylvania, November 15 to October 15. 

 Ohio, December 5 to November 15. 

 Indiana, January 1 to November 10. 

 Illinois, December 10 to November 11. 

 Minnesota, December 1 to October 1. 

 Iowa, December 15 to November 1. 

 Missouri, January 1 to November 1. 

 Nebraska, all the year. 

 Kansas, December 15 to November 15. 

 Oklahoma, February 1 to November 15. 

 Texas, February 1 to November 1. 



The breeding season from latitude 38° northward to Canada begins 

 in May and continues through July and occasionally into September. 



OTHER BIRD ENEMIES. 



To what extent the birds of the coast region feed upon the chinch 

 bug it is impossible to say. However, among the bird enemies 

 of the pest are the prairie chicken, redwing blackbird, catbird, 

 brown thrush or thrasher, meadowlark, house wren, tree swallow, 

 horned lark, Arkansas kingbird, Traill flycatcher, seaside s])arrow, 

 savanna sparrow, song sparrow, tree sparrow, and barn swallow. 



THE FROO. 



Dr. Cyrus Thomas quotes Ross and others as stating that the 

 common frog is an enemy of the cliinch bug. While this is probably 

 true, it is nevertheless well known that comparatively few frogs 

 frecjuent grain fields, as a rule, and thus the benefit derived from 

 their attacks is of too little importance to merit further notice. 



a From Farmers' Bulletin No. 376, pp. 18-29, 1909. 

 [Cir. 113] 



