. Orchard Nesting 
In 1938, of the 2,635 acres of ground cover in apple 
orchards on the 76 Calhoun County farms visited, 1,000 acres were 
mowed. The number of. acres. of orchard ground cover mowed is re=. 
ported to vary considerably from year to year; it depends on the 
crop of apples and the luxuriance of the herbaceous vegetation. 
Fewer acres than usual were cut in 1938. : Moreover, orchards that 
“were mowed contained many scattered patches of uncut vegatation. 
The number of quail nests reported in the 1,000 acres of mowed nest- 
img, eover,.in orchards is shown imyteable i. 
Despite some disturbance by the mower, 11 birds returned 
to their nests. Nests of two of these birds were subsequently de- 
sStroyed by predators, but nine nests hatehed. Rach of thesia aca 
bating birds flushed ahead of the sickle bar, prompting the operator 
to raise the bar sufficiently, toileavey an istend of) vegeltatuenm 
around the nest. Thirteen nests were essay ot by the mower. The 
outcome of one nest was not determined. 
In every instance, quail nests in apple orchards were 
located in the, open areas: between thejrowsof trees: Despite eare= 
fui search, not one nest was found nearvthe, base of al tres ;aaiscemces 
from nest to nearest tree trunk varied from 8 to 26 feet, with an 
average of 12 feet. The growth in the open areas evidently offers 
better nesting cover than the sparse vegetation underneath the tree 
canopy, where there is a deficiency of sunlight. 
Of the 25 nests found in orchards, 6 were in red) elovery 
18 were in @ mixture of blue grass and dai sy fleabane, and 1 was on 
the bare ground, being roofed over with dead blue- -prass stems. 
Hay f temd Nesving 
Red Clover.--Of the 70 Calhoun County farms visited ;'50 
produced red clover on a total of 1,163 acres. Seven hundred fifty 
acres were cut for hay; 413 were not mowed. The 413 unmowed acres 
were combined for seed in late August. Data on the first cutting of 
PedicLover are piven in babies ee 
The first beobwhite quail nest was not found until May 27, 
but hatching dates given in'table 2 indicate that part of the quail 
population, despite a cool, rainy spring, started nesting early in 
May. From data presented in table e,ult istevidenb that a sunibperteg 
quail nests escaped destruction by natch! ing previous to completion 
Oil \yelakes at alieshe cutting o of alfalfa and of red clover. 
Relative numbers of nests in red clover as compared with 
those in other kinds of hay crops are given in table 1. Nest de= 
struction in all but two cases was due directly to mowing. There are 
two records of incubating birds returning to their nests--doubtlessly 
because an island of cover was left about the nests--to hatch the 
eggs.» In another instance, a nest was deserted despite the island of 
clover tertyabout Lb. 
