The Quail 71 



sure to be in more or less poor condition. By 

 that time the various growths have been closely 

 gleaned, what little food there may be being 

 frosted and deprived of most of its nourishing 

 quality. If the winter prove unusually severe, with 

 much deep snow, food should be placed where 

 the birds can get it without having to go too far 

 from their favorite shelter. Corn, wheat, and 

 buckwheat are the best foods, and a few bushels 

 of one or other of these, placed behind some form 

 of shelter where, as the tracks indicate, the quail 

 frequent, will do much to help birds through that 

 trying period near the end of the winter. The 

 trouble of attending to this will be richly repaid, 

 for it must be remembered that a very few pairs 

 of birds will stock a large farm to its full capacity. 

 Two destroyers which have attained an unen- 

 viable reputation are Cooper's hawk {Accipiter 

 cooperi), and the sharp-shinned hawk {^A. velox). 

 These two are about the only hawks which do 

 serious damage. The proper justice for them 

 weighs about an ounce and one-eighth, and should 

 be administered at every opportunity. When 

 birds are regularly fed, one or other of these 

 rascals is almost certain to find it out and hang 

 about the nearest cover. For this reason it is a 

 good plan to carry a gun and a few heavily loaded 

 shells whenever one goes to put out more food or 

 to learn how the quail are faring. 



