80 Game Survey of the North Central States 



Wisconsin Study of Winter Losses. Paul L. Errington, Institute fel- 

 low at the University of Wisconsin, studied quail losses during the winter of 

 1929-30. He made a census of 60 covies, aggregating 1,000 birds, at the time 

 of the first snow, and then re-counted these covies from time to time during the 

 winter. Each covey selected for this study occupied a rather isolated range. This 

 minimized the chance of shuffling with outside covies and distortion of the count., 

 but also represented poorer than average environment. 



Many of the original covies had to be dropped from the study because the 

 count became confused by reason of shuffling, inability to visit them often enough, 

 etc. About 240 birds, however, were successfully followed through the winter 

 without anything happening to introduce any visible error into the count. Their 

 history is summarized on Chart 3 (reproduced by permission of "American; 

 Game," in which the findings were published, November-December, 1930). 



Although 1929-30 was a killing winter in Missouri, it was not especially- 

 severe in Wisconsin. 



The chart shows that these covies hardly lost a bird until the middle of 

 January, at which time severe cold occurred in conjunction with a heavy snow, 

 and with the exhaustion of ragweed and the edible legumes on most of the covey 

 ranges in question. The descending January curves in the lower half of the chart 

 show that a sharp loss, amounting to annihilation in the case of one covey, im- 

 mediately followed this combination of unfavorable conditions. Only those 

 covies having access to corn remained thrifty during February. No further losses 

 occurred up to the time when the last snow put an end to the counting in late 

 March. 



Of the 240 original birds, about 170, or 70 per cent, were surviving on 

 April 1. 



It should be emphasized that Errington is not ready to say whether this is a 

 representative survival or not. 



Frequency of Nesting Losses. The Missouri rainfall records may be 

 analyzed directly to determine the frequency of wet nesting weather. The first 

 question which arises is whether the loss is caused by excessive total summer rain- 

 fall, or by the violence of individual rains. We do not know, and there is no 

 record of the violence of individual rains. We do know that Stoddard found a 

 close correspondence between the total rainfall for June, July, and August in 

 Georgia, and the subsequent quail crop. Hence June to August rainfall is used 

 as a basis for the analysis. Chart 2 gives the June to August rainfall by years, 

 and the following table summarizes the chart. 



The table again emphasizes the local nature of exceptional weather. It 

 shows that abnormalities of rainfall at St. Louis and Springfield are seldom com- 

 mon to both localities. 



Extra heavy rainfall appears to be more frequent at Springfield than at St. 

 Louis, whereas extreme dryness is less so. 



