Bobwhite 75 



Winter losses are usually considered to be the result of starvation, but oc- 

 casionally occur through freezing, imprisonment by ice or snow, and clogging of 

 plumage by ice. 



Summer losses are the result of flooding of nests or drowning of young by 

 hard rains. Hail also occasionally kills young quail. 



An attempt was made during the survey to gather evidence on the correct- 

 ness of the supposition that starvation, not cold, is the primary cause of winter 

 loss. A statistical analysis was made to determine the relation, if any, between 

 losses recorded by ornithologists or remembered by sportsmen, and the weather 

 bureau records for snow and cold respectively. 



The statistical study also attempted to find out something about the 

 geographic distribution, frequency, and degree of both winter and nesting loss. 



The data are summarized on Chart 2. 



Explanation of Chart. Chart 2 incorporates what might be a dozen 

 separate charts, so as to bring all the information together for ready comparison. 

 It is not easy to read. The conclusions drawn from it appear in the subsequent 

 captions. Unless the reader is interested in checking the validity of the con- 

 clusions, he need not try to decipher it. 



The wide columns on the right and left margins show the existing weather 

 records for Missouri and Wisconsin respectively since 1835. The narrower 

 columns inside these weather graphs show quail history for these two States, in so 

 far as it is known. 



The narrow columns in the center show quail history for the other States, 

 but not their weather records. Occasional notes on weather are interjected, where 

 a short crop is known to have been caused by some particular storm. 



The Missouri weather column on the left shows nesting rainfall for two 

 localities (A and B) . The shading shows during what years the St. Louis rain- 

 fall was above the mean, which is the vertical line near the center of the column. 

 The dashed line to the right of it is the Springfield mean. 



On the vertical line representing the St. Louis mean are clustered a series of 

 circles labeled sleet, cold, snow, etc. These are the years of exceptional sleet, cold, 

 and snow for the State as a whole. The black segments indicate the part or the 

 State to which they pertain. Some of them are not from the Weather Bureau, but 

 from Sauer's book, "Geography of the Ozark Highland of Missouri," which 

 describes cold winters previous to 1873, at which point the Weather Bureau's 

 temperature records begin. All sleet symbols since 1913 are based on the records 

 of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, and appear for the years showing 

 over three-fourths inch of sleet on their wires. 



The Wisconsin weather column on the right gives total snowfall at Madison 

 (C) , instead of nesting rainfall. There was no room for both, and the snowfall 

 was considered more pertinent to a northern State. The circular labeled symbols 

 arranged on the vertical line (mean snowfall) show the years of exceptional cold 

 at Madison (hence there are no black segments to indicate the part of the State. 



