netting of game. Were it not for these laws, the farmer would 

 be continually annoyed by the tramping of hunters through his 

 fields at all seasons, the tearing down of his pasture walls and 

 fences and the shooting of birds in the nesting season. 



Some game birds are very valuable to the farmer as de- 

 stroyers of insects and other pests ; some game mammals, on the 

 contrary, are sometimes destructive to his crops or trees ; but 

 the farmer wdio takes advantage of the laws enacted for the 

 prevention of trespass, the protection of crops and the conserva- 

 tion of game and birds, may thereby add to his prosperity as 

 well as to his pleasure in life, and by fostering the increase of 

 fish, game and birds he may make life more attractive to his 

 boys, and thus help to keep them on the farm. This paper will 

 be devoted mainly to the material advantages that the farmer 

 may derive from the protection of wild game, and particularly 

 game birds. 



EcoxoMic Value of Game Bikds. 



High among the valuable destroyers of insects and weeds we 

 must rank the bob-white, commonly known in New England as 

 the quail. This bird has not only an esthetic value, by reason 

 of its bright, lively presence and its cheery call ; but it is also 

 one of the chief feathered helpers in field and garden. 



Dr. Judd of the Bureau of Biological Survey gives some in- 

 teresting records obtained by a study of its food.-^ 



The contents of the stomachs of 801 bob- whites were ex- 

 amined by the experts of the survey; over 50 per cent of the 

 food consisted of seeds, the bulk of this being weed seeds. One 

 bird had in its stomach 1,000 seeds of rag weed ; another had 

 eaten no less than 5,000 seeds of the troublesome pigeon grass. 

 As each bird eats two or more meals a day of this character dur- 

 ing the season when weed seeds may be found, a few flocks of 

 such birds might do much to limit the production of weeds on 

 any farm. Dr. Judd estimates that the bob-whites of Virginia 

 consume 5Y3 tons of weed seeds between September 1 and April 

 30. Examining the insect food of this bird, he finds that many 

 of the most important insect pests of the United States are 



' Judd, Sylvester D. The Economic Value of the Bob-white. Year Book, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, 1903, pp. 193-204. 



