THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



cieties, and that the demand would be larger 

 each season, as the work increased. 



Catching wild birds in remote districts 

 where they are still plentiful, for restocking 

 preserves, has not proved successful, because 

 the fright, close confinement, and unaccus- 

 tomed food, all of which are unavoidable dur- 

 ing the period of shipment, debilitate the 

 birds so seriously that the majority die off 

 when liberated amid strange surroundings, 

 before discovering the feeding and sheltering 

 possibilities of their new environment; so the 

 demand for live birds will have to be met by 

 semi-domesticated stock. 



Many of our neighbors, and probably farm- 

 ers in other districts, deprecate the idea of re- 

 stocking the country with quail, declaring that 

 they are as destructive in corn fields as crows, 

 which is a great mistake, according to Sylves- 

 ter D. Judd, ornithologist, who has published 

 the following report: 



The Bobwhite is preeminently a seed eater. 

 Of its food for the year, as a whole, seeds 



236 



