16 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



The Case of Bob-white 



By Paul B. Riis 



MUCH interest has been centered upon quail in recent months, 

 due to efforts of bird lovers in many parts of the country to 

 accord this game bird the legal protection of song birds. 



Each new effort is followed by the sportsmen with a call to organize 

 to frustrate these attempts that would deprive them of one of their most 

 important game birds. Each appeal is being accompanied with the 

 statement that Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Audubon 

 Societies, has declared quail a game bird pure and simple and not a song 

 bird. 



Dr. E. W. Nelson, of the Bureau of Biological Survey, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, also held that quail should remain in the 

 game bird list with reasonable allowance for hunting seasons and an 

 occasional closed year when found necessary. 



It would seem that every effort of bird lovers is destined to be futile 

 in the face of such statements from our highest authorities in the land 

 of bird-lore; at least, the sportsmen use these relentlessly in their argu- 

 ments. 



It is not a matter of record but rather of conjecture, that both of 

 these gentlemen made the statements with keen regrets but in keeping 

 with the existing facts. For does not your own heart quicken at the 

 recollection of your childhood home, where the notes of Bob-bob-white 

 gladdened its fields and meadows with its cadence of assurance? Or is 

 not its cheery call in the sweet fragrance of meadows greater com- 

 pensation over and above the victory-flushed moment, when a huddled 

 mass of feathers falls to your aim, the little body torn and forever stilled 

 in silent death? 



The State of Ohio has given quail the legal protection accorded song 

 birds since 191 5. Sportsmen have made much capital of this fact, 

 especially so, since reports from unauthentic sources brand the experi- 

 ment a flat failure. Much of their case is being built around the Ohio 

 experience. But the evidence, systematically supported by reliable 

 census takers from all parts of the state, and compiled by Eugene 

 Swope, Field Agent for the State, and submitted in his annual report 

 to the National Audubon Societies, puts quail protection in an entirely 

 different light, one from which the sportsmen should also profit. Mr. 

 Swope states: 



"Early in 191 5, some of the Ohio conservationists and agriculturists 

 were instrumental in having the Bob-white legally classed with all pro- 

 tected birds of the state. Ohio bird census takers, reporting Christmas 

 observations to Bird-Lore six weeks prior to the enactment of this law, 



