BOB WHITE. 149 



he destroys innumerable noxious insects and weed-seeds. 

 It is said that he is very fond of the tiny seeds of the Japan 

 clover, which has of late years spread over our section of 

 the country ; but I have never been able to verify this by 

 my own observation. In the spring, when the mast is 

 gone and seeds have generally decayed or sprouted, the 

 Bob White eats various young weeds. The favorite cover 

 of Bob White is stubble, weed-fields, broom-sedge, and 

 grass. When flushed or frightened, they fly to the 

 thickets, especially the brush along streams, and are 

 generally found within a few hundred yards of some 

 such coverts, which causes many to believe that they look 

 upon water as a matter of prime necessity ; this I am 

 somewhat inclined to doubt, for the following reason: 

 In September, 1884, I went on a bear-hunt to what is 

 known as the Nueces Canon, which runs through Uvalde 

 and other counties in the southwestern portion of Texas. 

 It was during a severe drought. Water was to be found 

 only on the Nueces River and a few of its tributaries, and 

 while the cattle had eaten all the grass within several 

 miles of the stream along part of our road, in other places 

 we found it quite abundant, because the cattle would not 

 go so far from water to graze upon it, and yet in those very 

 places I saw more Bob Whites than I ever saw before or 

 since. They were just as abundant miles from water as 

 they were upon the banks of the stream. The country 

 was so dry and elevated that there was no dew. We 

 could leave our guns out in the open air all night, and 

 they would not gather a particle of rust. The only solu- 

 tion I could give of this, was either that the birds could 

 do without water or that they must quench their thirst 

 from the "prickly pears" (fruit of the cacti) which abound 

 in that section. My limited time, and my desire to secure 

 larger, not nobler, game, prevented me from making a 

 close investigation into this. 



