Bo b u> hit e 



41 



Trend of Abundance. After the survey was nearly complete I noticed 

 that some old-timers seemed to retain an accurate recollection of the number of 

 covies found years ago on their home farms or former favorite shooting grounds. 

 It occurred to me that comparisons of mass data for former and present popula- 

 tions would be illuminating. Table 6 gives some fragments of old data, which 

 could readily be enlarged into a reliable picture of former conditions. 



This table is too meagre to prove anything, but it is possibly significant that 

 I have never heard a reliable old-timer give a covey estimate which reduced to 

 more than a bird per acre. In short, there is at least an indication that quail 

 never did exceed a bird per acre. 



Further evidence as to the trend of quail abundance is contained in the fol- 

 lowing summary of the opinions of selected observers. Observers competent to 

 give specific population samples are ordinarily incompetent to judge of long-time 

 trends. Occasionally, however, one finds particular individuals who possess the 

 dispassionate attitude of the scientist, combined with a facility for accurate and 

 specific recollection. Only individuals judged to be of this class are included in 

 this table. (Except in Ohio, where the figures represent replies to a question- 

 naise sent game wardens. These Ohio figures are considered poor.) 



TABLE 7. Opinion of Observers on General Trend of Quail Abundance 



My impression gathered during the survey is that the present trend of quail 

 is downward in the prairie type, and in those parts of the riverbreak and till plain 

 types subjected to heavy grazing (see Map 8). On the other hand it is my im- 

 pression that the general trend is stationary in the other types and possibly upward 

 in the most favorable parts of the Ozarks and the Hill Belt. 



Saturation Point. If, as seems probable, the density of quail population 

 on the best farms did not often exceed a bird per acre even during the peak of 

 quail abundance, how do we reconcile this fact with the universal belief that there 

 are fewer quail in the country now than formerly? It is clear from Map 6 and 

 Table 5 that a bird per acre represents substantially the maximum population at 

 the present time. (The "star" in southern Missouri appearing on Map 6 and 

 indicating a population heavier than one acre per quail was probably a temporary 

 concentration. It is a steer feeding farm heavily "baited" with grain, where the 



