Bob white 77 



These are omitted because quail occur only in the southwest half of the State, of 

 which the Madison climate is probably a fair sample). 



The narrow columns in the center show for each State the known information 

 on whether quail were high or low. A circle on the left side of the column in- 

 dicates a low crop, and the black segment shows in what part of the State. A 

 circle on the right side of the column indicates a high crop, and the black segment 

 shows where located. Lines connecting the circle indicate a continuous condition 

 or trend. The figure to the left of a circle indicates, by "plus or minus" 

 signs, the possible error in date. The figure below a circle shows the number of 

 observers agreeing on the high or low condition on that date. 



All symbols for weather show as of the year during which they would affect 

 the quail crop. Thus a sleet of December, 1924, would show on the horizontal 

 line for 1925, because that is the year it would first affect the crop. A few of the 

 short crops recorded on the chart are recorded in the literature, but most of them 

 were obtained by compiling the recollections of sportsmen, farmers, and game 

 wardens. Where several reports departed only slightly from the known date of 

 a severe winter, the evidence was considered as establishing that date. Where 

 several reports checked on a date, but the weather record showed no abnormality, 

 the date was accepted. Where a single report was backed by neither the 

 weather record nor other reports, it was usually dropped as unfounded. 



The work was not done with equal care in all States. The check against 

 weather records was made only in Wisconsin and Missouri. For this reason com- 

 parison between States should not be regarded as conclusive. 



Historic Weather. The reader who has mastered the foregoing explana- 

 tion of Chart 2 now deserves a vacation. It is desired to summarize a matter of 

 popular interest, namely, the weather conditions affecting game which were so 

 extraordinary that local tradition has given them names, and handed down descrip- 

 tions of them which old-timers can repeat (doubtless with due elaboration). 

 Since the weather records back up the descriptions, however, we need not doubt 

 their reality. 



The first of these was the "cold Friday" which occurred in the winter of 

 1874-5 in northeastern Missouri, and which consisted of a sudden and very 

 severe blizzard remembered by all old-timers. 



Next was the "big snow" of 1881-2 in southeastern Wisconsin. It evidently 

 killed quail in Michigan as well. 



Then came the "bluebird storm" of 1894-95, well-known to all bird lovers 

 because it caught the bluebirds after their northward migration had begun. So 

 many of them died that for several years afterward the sight of a bluebird was 

 a rarity. Its exact extent was not determined, but I personally recall the scarcity 

 of bluebirds in southeastern Iowa. 



The "big sleet" of March, 1922, registered itself in the quail crop for both 

 Missouri and Wisconsin, but it was especially severe in Wisconsin, where it 



