38 



THE OOLOGIST. 



THE QUAIL TRAP. 



Bob White Wins in Struggle for Ex- 

 istence — But One Wanton Act. — 

 Hardy Ruffed Grouse. — The Gun- 

 ner's Survival of the Fittest. — 

 Pinus Canadensis Enjoys Its 

 Southern Trip. — Owl's Well at the 

 Owlery. 



The Quail Trap, Norwich, Conn., 

 Jan. 3, 1907. — We cannot go away 

 from the bungalow without a last lin- 

 gering look at the birds w-> are leav- 

 ing to the tender mercies of Mother 

 Nature for three months. First in im- 

 portance and first in our hearts, Bob 

 White still bobs up serenely. June 27 

 a cock quail called for half a day from 

 the walls and big rocks on our farm. 

 Not receiving any answering call, he 

 took a position twelve feet from the 

 ground in an apple tree and poured 

 forth a quick succession of clear, ring- 

 ing calls. Failing to get any reply to 

 this supreme effort, he finally came 

 down from his unusual perch, and 

 flew over toward West Woodstock, 

 where three late covies of chicks were 

 afterward reported. 



A young neighbor shot four quail 

 on Bay Election day from a covey 

 from the west which suddenly ap- 

 peared on his grounds. This thought- 

 less act was condemned by all the old 

 wing-shots of Woodstock, not one of 

 them shooting at a quail during the 

 open season. Eight of the depleted 

 covey, frightened and separated, came 

 over on our land and were protected 

 till the close season. On the after- 

 noon they were driven over here, it 

 was pitiful to hear the plaintive recall 

 of the alarmed young birds. It was 

 probably the first time that this covey 

 had been fired at, and as many as six 

 at one time were repeating their soft 

 assembling note from our safe covers. 

 On the day the close law went into 

 effect, a tremenduous company of 

 fifty quail appeared in the neighbor- 

 hood. We concluded that they must 



be the western and southern birds in- 

 troduced by Southbridge sportsmen 

 only five miles away. My latest 1896 

 data, collected from trappers in many 

 towns in New London and Windham 

 counties, indicated that with a contin- 

 uance of the present favorable weath- 

 er, there will be a general increase of 

 quail in 1907 in both counties. 



Ruffed' grouse have been abundant 

 this year, full bags being the rule. Six 

 of the best gunners have each killed 

 their legal thirty-five partridges, and 

 they report wary birds left in nearly 

 all the covers. There are three left in 

 our own woods, besides old Red Ruff, 

 who has again fooled the scatter-gun 

 people from Southbridge and 1 the vil- 

 lage. The day before the law "went 

 on" Mr. Irvin Paine cautioned two men 

 not to shoot an old female grouse 

 which he wished left over to breed. A 

 moment later three females were 

 flushed at one point and not a gun 

 was raised. In early December Mr. 

 Paine flushed twenty partridges in a 

 long woodland stroll. In November, 

 Mr. Foster Child started a goshawk 

 from a brush pile where it had been 

 lunching on a "chicken pat." 



Pine grosbeaks have been abundant 

 here during the month of December 

 and are common now in the four par- 

 ishes. They are in the orchards pick- 

 ing seeds from rotten apples, and they 

 come into the dooryards and pick up 

 food of various kinds. They are not at 

 all shy and they appear in companies 

 averaging about a dozen each. Though 

 at present songless, both sexes are 

 lively and seem greatly to enjoy life 

 in their winter range. Females and 

 young of the year predominate in ev- 

 ery flock, and they are all dull color- 

 ed — a few of the young birds showing 

 grayish-white breasts. If they remain 

 through February we are hoping the 

 old males will assume the nuptial 

 plumage. 



