58 



Game Survey of the North Central States 



north part. The late hatchings of course represent repeated attempts to bring off 

 a brood consequent upon earlier failure to do so. 



TABLE 14. Limits of breeding season for quail as indicated by date of hatching 



Number of broods hatched in 



Weights of Quail. Weight is an important index to vigor, age, and pos- 

 sibly to other characteristics of quail populations. Records of weights and sex 

 tallies could easily be kept by sportsmen, and would be a subject of personal in- 

 terest as well as of scientific value. Unfortunately few sportsmen gather such in- 

 formation and fewer still record it. 



Dr. J. C. Lyter has systematically weighed quail killed on his preserve in 

 Phelps County, Missouri, and remembers that some weighed over 8 ounces, but 

 no record was kept. Deputy Game Warden J. S. Melton of Moberly, Mo., 

 weighed 5 or 10 extra large quail and remembers that they averaged over 8 ounces 

 each. In general, 6 to 8 ounces is the normal range of weights. 



I weighed two starved quail in Jasper County on January 25, 1930, one a 

 cock and the other a hen, which weighed 4y 2 ounces each. W. L. Schofield, 

 field warden in the southwestern district, weighed four starved quail in Green 

 County that weighed 17 ounces together or 4y 2 ounces each. One was much 

 larger than the other three, which brought up the average. He thinks these four 

 were frozen to death, as they were bunched up dead in a very exposed place. Some 

 other starved birds found by Schofield weighed as little as 3^ ounces. Roughly, 

 quail in this region seem to starve at about half their normal weight. In Georgia, 

 Stoddard found quail still alive at a more advanced stage of emaciation. 



There is a statewide tradition in Missouri that the woods quail of the Ozarks 

 are the heaviest, but no evidence was found to prove or disprove its truth. 



There is need of determining whether the introduction of Mexican stock has 

 affected size, weight, and plumage. An attempt to do this is now under way at 

 the Ohio State Museum. 



A graph showing changes in weight by sexes throughout the year and be- 

 tween years might shed important light on seasonal variations in vigor. It is an 

 unanswered question, for instance, whether, after the snows melt in spring, quail 

 recover good physical condition, or whether their condition remains precarious 



