18 BOB WHITE AND OTHEB QUAILS OF UNITED STATES. 



calls from the fence post or runs fearlessly across the road, the 

 stroller can but admire its trim, alert figure and tasteful color 

 pattern of black, white, and brown, set off with delicate tintings of 

 blue-gray. Its mellow whistle seems a proffer of good-fellowship, 

 investing even a solitude with cheer, while the plaintive covey-call 

 heard in the growing darkness to summon a scattered flock to the 

 nightly resting place is one of the tenderest of evening sounds. Be- 

 cause of such traits the bird has made many friends, some of whom 

 spend time and money to insure its undisturbed presence in 'their 

 neighborhood. 



DECREASE OF BOBWHITE. 



Every few years, on the recurrence of unusually severe winters with 

 heavy snows which cover .the food supply, great numbers of bob- 

 whites perish, and sometimes in the northern part of its range the 

 bird becomes almost extinct. This unnecessary loss of life could be 

 largely prevented if landoAvners and others interested would scatter 

 a little grain in suitable places. This is done in some localities, as at 

 Sandy Spring, Md., where H. H. Miller drives over the snow-covered 

 country, scattering grain for the starving quail. The practice is 

 worthy of general adoption. It is necessary only while the ground 

 is snowbound, and especially after sleet storms. 



The bobwhite has taken kindly to civilization and has followed the 

 plow of the settler into new sections, so that with the advance of the 

 farming area in the West, and especially in the Northwest, its range 

 has been much extended. 



There is little doubt, however, that, while the bobwhite is a fairly 

 hardy and prolific species, its numbers are decreasing in much, if not 

 all, of its range, where not specially protected. In the early fifties 

 Lewis reported 61 birds killed in a day to a single muzzle loader, and 

 mentions 900 birds trapped on one estate in a season. Within the 

 last few years the scarcity of bobwhites has been so notable that sev- 

 eral projected field trials have been abandoned for lack of birds on 

 which to try the dogs. 



Severe winters, as already noted, are an occasional cause for a 

 great decrease in the number of the birds, though they increase rapidly 

 with a few succeeding good seasons. In sections where the birds are 

 still common unlimited slaughter is often indulged in by thoughtless 

 hunters. Recent instances of such slaughter are on record, and the 

 following may be cited : A bag of 175 birds to three guns jn eight 

 hours in the fall of 1902 at Tiffin, Ohio," another of 300 birds to a 

 single gun in a day and a half in the fall of 1902, in Marshall County, 

 Ky.," and still another of 292 birds to three guns in a day in South 



a Recreation, vol. 17, p. 120. » Ibid., vol. 19, p. 41. 



