Economic Reasons for Protection 91 



been eaten at a meal." Dr. Judd gives even 

 stronger testimony in favor of these birds when 

 he tells us that five thousand seeds of green 

 foxtail and ten thousand of pigweed have been 

 found in a single bird. He estimates that from 

 June 1st to August ist in the two states of Vir- 

 ginia and North Carolina alone, bobwhites eat 

 1341 tons of weed seed and 340 tons of insects. 

 When to all this is added the aesthetic value of 

 this gentle bird, whose cheery voice thrills all to 

 whom it is familiar, we see that to kill a quail 

 and serve it on toast is to realize but a very 

 small part of what it is really worth. 



The mourning dove which we see everywhere 

 through the Middle West and which all day long 

 rises in little flocks as our train passes through the 

 fields, rivals even the bobwhite as a destroyer of 

 weed seeds. Professor King, in Wisconsin, took 

 from the stomach of a single dove 4016 seeds of 

 pigeon grass, and from the stomach of another 

 were taken 7500 seeds of oxalis. 



I confess that I have little patience with the 

 man who tries to tell the farmer that all hawks 

 and owls are his friends, and that he should not 

 shoot one under any circumstances. He should 

 know better than this and the farmer does know 

 better. Such sweeping statements not only fail 

 to convince the intelligent farmer, but they tend 



