550 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
nowhere in sight, but on giving the whistle I would 
be assured by a chorus of eager replies, and in a 
moment the air would be full of whirring wings, as the 
flock flew in with a rush and lighted at the entrance of 
the cage. This might be repeated as many as a dozen 
times a day. 
“Wintering the bobwhite offers no difficulty. I set 
the cages with the shelter end open to the south, build 
a brush wood-pile in the middle of the cage, see that 
they are supplied with weed seed, grain mixture and 
water when snow is lacking, and keep a cabbage, a 
mangel wurzel or an apple where they can pick at it. 
It might be well to see that the cluster is not imprisoned 
under the ice after a sleet storm, but the brush-pile 
has afforded insurance against this so far. This brush 
wood-pile is made by placing a few stout branches 
on the ground in a sheltered sunny exposure, and on 
these pile about two feet of weeds, cut before the seeds 
fall—ragweed, lamb’s quarter, pigweed, smart-weed, 
wild buckwheat (chaff straw or loft sweepings would 
do if weeds are not at hand) ; then pile on a foot or two 
of stout brush which cannot be crushed down by heavy 
snows, and on top of this place a good thick covering 
of weeds. This will give the flock scratching mate- 
rial all winter, afford shelter from cold and storms, and 
protect from vermin, especially hawks, owls and cats. 
For bobwhite in the open I think this simple winter 
provision would insure against winter killing and ex- 
tend the range of the species at least several hundred 
miles to the north. The great value of the bird in 
