THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 

 Vol.. XX. April, 1903. No. 2 



THE DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF BOB-WHITE. 



BY JOHN N. CLARK. ^ 



To THE man who keeps his eyes and ears open, there are new 

 sources of entertainment and instruction bursting upon his vision 

 at every turn. They often come as surprises — for Nature, ever 

 proUfic in resource, offers a new program at every interview. 

 Such were the thoughts that suggested themselves as I took the 

 pen to recount a Httle episode that afforded much entertainment 

 for me the past summer. 



I frequently observed during later June and early July a stately 

 Bob-white stationed on a post near at hand where at early morn 

 and fading day he called out with great energy his weather prog- 

 nostications with little favor to the haymakers, as if he were a 

 trusted employee of the Weather Bureau. 



By the roadside in that immediate vicinity grow numerous 

 patches of what I call scrub. There are hazel scrub, wild rose 

 scrub, and blueberry and dwarf willow scrubs — annually mowed. 

 Mowing does not destroy or discourage them, but puts them in the 

 form so popular in Japan when practiced upon trees kept in plant 

 form by trimming and training. These scrubs, cut to stubs from 

 six to ten inches, renew their annual leaf and vigor and afford nice 



1 [This article has a sad interest, owing to the death of the author since the 

 manuscript was received for publication. .See ' Notes and News ' in the pres- 

 ent number of ' The Auk '. — Edd.] 



