550 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



nowhere in sight, but on giving the whistle I would 

 be assured by a chorus of eager replies, and in a 

 moment the air would be full of whirring wings, as the 

 flock flew in with a rush and lighted at the entrance of 

 the cage. This might be repeated as many as a dozen 

 times a day. 



"Wintering the bob white offers no difficulty. I set 

 the cages with the shelter end open to the south, build 

 a brush wood-pile in the middle of the cage, see that 

 they are supplied with weed seed, grain mixture and 

 water when snow is lacking, and keep a cabbage, a 

 mangel wurzel or an apple where they can pick at it. 

 It might be well to see that the cluster is not imprisoned 

 under the ice after a sleet storm, but the brush-pile 

 has afforded insurance against this so far. This brush 

 wood-pile is made by placing a few stout branches 

 on the ground in a sheltered sunny exposure, and on 

 these pile about two feet of weeds, cut before the seeds 

 fall ragweed, lamb's quarter, pigweed, smart-weed, 

 wild buckwheat (chaff straw or loft sweepings would 

 do if weeds are not at hand) ; then pile on a foot or two 

 of stout brush which cannot be crushed down by heavy 

 snows, and on top of this place a good thick covering 

 of weeds. This will give the flock scratching mate- 

 rial all winter, afford shelter from cold and storms, and 

 protect from vermin, especially hawks, owls and cats. 

 For bobwhite in the open I think this simple winter 

 provision would insure against winter killing and ex- 

 tend the range of the species at least several hundred 

 miles to the north. The great value of the bird in 



