study on abandoned farm land in Tennessee (Cady 1944) 

 revealed that these lespedezas formed a substantial 

 proportion of the bobwhite food, 62.38 per cent of the 

 total food by weight. 



4. Oak (acorns) constituted 7.19 per cent of the 

 crop contents and ranked ninth in frequency of occur- 

 rence (9.55 per cent) in southern Illinois bobwhites. 

 Few whole acorns were found in the crops; most of this 

 food had evidently been taken by the bobwhites in the 

 form of fragments remaining from the feeding activities 

 of other animals. 



Acorns are found throughout most of the range of 

 bobwhites and are a staple food in most places. They 

 were found to be the most common food in the diet of 

 Alabama bobwhites studied by Allen & Pearson (1945^:9, 

 1945^:9), forming over 20 per cent of the food volume. 

 They ranked fifth by volume (6.6 per cent) in a Missouri 

 study (Korschgen 1948:52) and ninth (1.4 per cent) in 

 an Indiana study (Reeves 1954:44). 



5. Wheat made up 5.45 per cent of the crop contents 

 and occurred in 4.54 per cent of the crops in the present 

 study. When wheat occurred in a crop it generally formed 

 the major portion of the contents, possibly reflecting 

 its tendency to be locally available. Wheat ranked fifth 

 by volume in this study, sixth in a Virginia study (Bald- 

 win & Handley 1946:145), and third in a Pennsylvania 

 study (Bennett & English 1939:29). 



Lower volumes of wheat were reported occurring in 

 the bobwhite crops from states in the western wheat 

 belt. Wheat was fifteenth by volume in a Missouri study 

 (Korschgen 1948:52) and twenty-second (Lee 1948:7) 

 and twenty-first (Baumgartner et al. 1952:343) in two 

 Oklahoma studies. During fall and early winter, wheat 

 is apparently more readily available to bobwhites in 

 areas to the northeast of the western wheat belt than 

 it is to bobwhites in the wheat belt; this availability 

 is probably due to differing agricultural practices. 



6. Common ragweed comprised 4.58 per cent of the 

 total crop contents and ranked third in frequency of oc- 

 currence (26.40 percent) in southern Illinois. An annual 

 weed of cultivated lands, waste places, roadsides, pas- 

 tures, and newly abandoned fields, common ragweed 

 has proved to be an important food of bobwhites in sev- 

 eral studies. In Indiana, lesser ragweed ranked second 

 (37.2 per cent) in frequency of occurrence and consti- 

 tuted 9.1 per cent of the volume (Reeves 1954:43)- In 

 Missouri, common ragweed occupied third place by vol- 

 ume (12.7 per cent) and occurred in 36.6 per cent of the 

 crops (Korschgen 1948:52). In Virginia (Baldwin & Hand- 

 ley 1946:145), it was first by volume (21.3 per cent). 

 In Tennessee (Cady 1944:12), it ranked second by per 

 cent of total weight (14.29 per cent). 



7. White sassafras made up 3.80 per cent of the 

 crop contents and occurred in 5.23 per cent of the south- 



ern Illinois crops. Like wheat, white sassafras consti- 

 tuted the major portion of the contents of the individual 

 crops in which it was found. This shrub is common in 

 fencerows, in abandoned fields, and as an understory 

 in woods of southern Illinois. While white sassafras is 

 a common food of bobwhites in other midwestem states, 

 it appears to be of little importance in southern and 

 southwestern states. In a Missouri study, white sassa- 

 fras was sixth by volume (2.9 per cent) and occurred in 

 4.7 per cent of the crops (Korschgen 1948:52). In an 

 Indiana study, it ranked second by volume (21.2 per 

 cent) and occurred in 21.2 percent of the crops (Reeves 

 1954:43)- No sizable volume of sassafras was found in 

 the bobwhite diets studied in Virginia (Baldwin & Hand- 

 ley 1946:145) or Tennessee (Cady 1944:12), and none 

 at all in Oklahoma (Lee 1948:20; Baumgartner e/ a/. 1952). 



8. Desmodium (also known as tick clover, tick tre- 

 foil, sticktight, and beggar's tick) accounted for 2.94 

 per cent of the total volume and ranked eighth (12. 11 per 

 cent) in frequency of occurrence in southern Illinois 

 bobwhites. Most of the many perennial species of des- 

 modium are native to wooded areas and are usually 

 found on dry soils. Desmodium is an important bobwhite 

 food throughout most of the Midwest and South. In a re- 

 port from Missouri, desmodium comprised 2.3 per cent 

 of the food, ranking eighth by volume and occurring in 

 10.7 per cent of the crops studied (Korschgen 1948:52). 

 In a Virginia study (Baldwin & Handley 1946:145), it 

 was also eighth by volume (3.6 per cent). Desmodium 

 ranked third by weight (3.73 per cent) in a Tennessee 

 study (Cady 1944:12) and was eleventh by volume (1.2 

 per cent) in an Indiana study (Reeves 1954:43). 



9. Slugs furnished 2.81 per cent of the volume and 

 ranked twelfth in frequency of occurrence (6.84 per cent) 

 in the Illinois crops examined. Slugs were unlike most 

 other animal foods in that several were often found in 

 one crop. Slugs of the family Philomycidae are common 

 in woodland and are usually over one-half inch in length. 

 In this study, slugs were found in greater volumes than 

 had been reported forother studies, although frequencies 

 of occurrence were sometimes comparable. The greater 

 volumes reported in this investigation may have resulted 

 from our method, described earlier, of determining vol- 

 ume of animal foods. In Missouri, snails occurred in 3.4 

 per cent of the crops examined (Korschgen 1952:22). In 

 Alabama, they comprised only 0.2 per cent of the food 

 volume but occurred in 20.91 per cent of the crops ex- 

 amined (Gray 1940:23). 



10. Jewelweed accounted for 1.82 per cent of the 

 total crop contents and ranked eleventh in frequency of 

 occurrence; it was found in 8.66 per cent of the crops 

 examined in the present study. On wet, calcareous soils, 

 this plant is common in partial shade. In a Missouri 

 study, jewelweed comprised 0.2 per cent of the volume 



12 



