and occurred in 1.3 per cent of the crops (Korschgen 

 1948:52). It was thirteenth by volume (1.8 per cent) in 

 a report from Virginia (Baldwin & Handley 1946:145), 

 and seventh (3.9 per cent) in an Indiana study (Reeves 

 1954:43). and, by weight, eleventh (0.56 per cent) in a 

 Tennessee study (Cady 1944:12). 



11. Bidens (also known as bur marigold, beggar tick, 

 sticktight, and Spanish needle) formed 1.38 per cent of 

 the total crop contents and was the fifth most frequently 

 occurring food, being found in 18.98 per cent of the 

 crops of southern Illinois bobwhites. Some species of 

 bidens are annual and some are perennial; they are 

 plants of open woods, roadsides, and fields and are 

 generally found in wet places. Bidens formed a greater 

 volume of the food of bobwhites in Illinois than in neigh- 

 boring states. In Missouri, it occurred in 7.0 per cent of 

 the crops examined and accounted for only 0.6 per cent 

 of the volume (Korschgen 1948:52). Bidens averaged 

 less than 1 per cent of the total food volume in reports 

 from Virginia (Baldwin & Handley 1946:145) and Indiana 

 (Reeves 1954:43) and of the total weight in Tennessee 

 (Cady 1944:12). 



12. Cowpea comprised 1.36 per cent of the volume 

 of crop contents in southern Illinois and occurred in 

 1.73 per cent of the crops. The acreage of cowpea plant- 

 ed annually in Illinois is now small, because this crop 

 has been replaced largely by soybean. Cowpea, like 

 wheat and white sassafras, occurred in considerable 

 quantity in individual crops; it is possibly a preferred 

 food of the bobwhite. In Missouri, Korschgen (1948:52) 

 found that cowpea formed 0.6 per cent of the volume 

 and occurred in 0.9 per cent of the crops. Baldwin & 

 Handley (1946:145) stated that cowpea ranked fifth by 

 volume (5.1 per cent) in Virginia. In Alabama, Johnson 

 & Pearson (1948:12) ranked cowpea second by volume 

 (11.86 per cent). 



13. Short-horned grasshoppers formed 1.32 per cent 

 of the total volume of crop contents and occurred in 

 4.54 per cent of the southern Illinois bobwhite crops. 

 Grasshoppers have been found to be the most important 

 animal food in most studies of bobwhite foods. In a re- 

 port from Missouri, they were the animal food taken in 

 greatest quantity, comprising 0.8 per cent of the total 

 volume and 7.7 per cent in frequency of occurrence 

 (Korschgen 1948:52). Short-horned grasshoppers were 

 seventeenth by volume (1 per cent) in a Virginia study 

 (Baldwin & Handley 1946:145); in an Alabama study 

 (Gray 1940:22), they formed 5.63 per cent of the volume 

 of the November diet and 2.08 per cent of the foods 

 taken in December, averaging 1.70 per cent for the 4- 

 month winter season. 



14. Small wild bean constituted 1 per cent of the 

 crop contents and was the seventh most frequently 

 found food, occurring in 12.35 per cent of the crops ex- 



amined for the present study. Small wild bean is prob- 

 ably not generally abundant in southern Illinois; those 

 crops in which it was found usually contained only a 

 few beans. This plant, which grows locally in Illinois 

 as well as in most of the Midwest and the South, is an 

 annual of dry and sandy soil found on river banks, in 

 idle fields, and in open woods. In Missouri, it was ninth 

 by volume (1.8 per cent) and occurred in 17.9 per cent 

 of the crops examined (Korschgen 1948:52). In Alabama, 

 a species comparable to small wild bean made up 5.12, 

 2.11, and 1.04 per cent of the volume in three studies 

 (Gray 1940:16; Allen & Pearson 1945^:9, 1945^:14). In 

 an Indiana report, it was recorded as a trace (Reeves 

 1954:44). 



15. A few additional foods found in southern Illinois 

 bobwhite crops seem worthy of mention. Yellow foxtail, 

 smooth crabgrass, lance-leaved ragweed, black gum, 

 insect larvae, and smooth sumac individually formed 

 0.26 to 0.86 per cent of the total crop contents. Smooth 

 crabgrass, yellow foxtail, witch grass, Pennsylvania 

 smartweed, and ground beetles occurred frequently but 

 were taken in small quantities. Most animal foods and 

 some seeds, such as those of sumac and Pennsylvania 

 smartweed, were seldom taken in great numbers by an 

 individual bobwhite. Some seeds, particularly those of 

 the grasses, were so small that the consumption of large 

 numbers added little to the total volume. Some of the 

 smallest seeds were probably incidental to the diet and 

 were perhaps picked up while the bobwhites were feed- 

 ing primarily on other foods. Only a negligible percent- 

 age of the total volume was made up of fragments of 

 plant materials and insect parts that could not be identi- 

 fied as to kind. 



REGIONAL COMPARISON OF DIETS 



Comparisons of data from other states with data from 

 the present study, table 2, indicate that bobwhites in 

 adjoining states — Indiana (Reeves 1954), Missouri 

 (Korschgen 1948), and Kentucky (Barbour 1951) — have 

 great similarity of diet to the bobwhites in Illinois. 

 Nine of the 12 foods which made up 1 per cent or more 

 of the bobwhite diet in Indiana also formed 1 per cent 

 or more of the diet of Illinois bobwhites. Eight of 14 

 important foods in Missouri were of significance in 

 Illinois. Each of the four foods found in greatest quan- 

 tity in certain Kentucky bobwhites comprised 1 per cent 

 or more of the diet in this study. 



Bobwhite food habits in southern Illinois tend to be 

 fairly similar to those reported in studies made in or 

 near the same latitude as that of southern Illinois. The 

 diets of bobwhites in Virginia (Baldwin & Handley 1946) 

 and Pennsylvania (Bennett & English 1939) resembled 

 the diet of Illinois bobwhites more than did diets of 



13 



