52 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
Being a bird that lives on the ground, bobwhite can- 
not survive in a country of deep snows. Along the 
northern border of its range it has often been almost ex- 
terminated in certain regions, because a heavy snowfall 
during the night has covered up the roosting birds, and 
then a change in the weather melting the surface of the 
snow has been followed by another change to freezing, 
forming a hard crust through which the quail cannot 
break, resulting in starvation and death. There are 
many records of bevies being found after the snow of 
some severe storm has melted, close huddled together 
precisely as they roosted. Long continued periods of 
severe weather, when the ground is covered with snow 
and ice, sometimes make food exceedingly hard to ob- 
tain and at the same time render the birds more visible 
to their many enemies. 
At the present time the quail may be said to be almost 
extinct in Massachusetts, Connecticut and much of New 
York State, and in many sections they seem to be con- 
stantly growing fewer in numbers. This is due largely 
to over-shooting, but partly also to the destruction of 
the covers which once afforded them so much more pro- 
tection than at present. The reduction in their numbers 
is a misfortune not merely to the sportsman, but to the 
whole country, for investigations have shown the quail 
to be a valuable ally to the farmer, destroying multi- 
tudes of harmful insects, and also devouring vast quan- 
tities of noxious weed seeds. The value of the services 
which it performs is now coming to be understood by 
the public at large, and it is reported that in certain 
