THE GAME- BREEDER 



137 



QUAIL AND PARTRIDGE BREEDING FOR SPORT AND 



FOR PROFIT. 



By D. W. Huntington. ■ 

 PART IIL 



Quail Foods. 



The quail preserver should know 

 much about the natural foods for quail, 

 both those which should not be de- 

 stroyed and those which can be planted 

 to advantage. Quail eat a great variety 

 of food and are said to be one of our 

 most nearly omnivorous species. The 

 greater the variety and abundance of the 

 foods the easier it will be to make the 

 birds plentiful and to hold them on the 

 preserved area. Since they eat different 

 foods at different seasons of the year, 

 it is desirable to have, at least, some of 

 the many foods suitable for each seaso^i. 

 In winter, for example, it is important, 

 in the northern states, to have foods 

 which can be taken above the snow. 

 Quail thrive on the hips of wild roses; 

 the berries of the dwarf and the stag- 

 horn sumac; the rag weeds and many 

 other weeds which present food above 

 the snow. Sun-flowers and the tall black 

 berries will furnish food late in the sea- 

 son and these foods should be preserved 

 where they occur or be introduced where 

 they have been extirpated. Quail eat all 

 kinds of grain; wheat, buckwheat, corn, 

 rye and millet are probably the most de- 

 sirable, and 'small areas planted with 

 these grains, which should be left stand- 

 ing, will hold the birds in safe places 

 where it is desirable to have them. 



Weed seeds, like insects, often are 

 over-abundant on the farms, but, as I 

 have said, often they are plowed under 

 on vast areas at times when the quail 

 need them most. Many weeds should 

 be permitted to grow on areas set aside 

 for the quail and at the sides of the 

 ditches and fences at least. The quail 

 is pre-eminently a seed eater and 52.83 

 per cent, of its annual food is the seeds 

 of plants belonging to the general cate- 

 gory of weeds.* Over sixty species are 



known to be eaten. Ampng the favor- 

 ite seeds listed are rag weed, button 

 weed, sunflower, bastard pen royal, witch 

 grass, partridge pea, fox tail grass, 

 smart weed ana morning glory. The 

 small seeds, especially those of legu- 

 minous plants seem to be especially at- 

 tractive and it is, of course, an' easy mat- 

 ter to preserve some of them in places 

 where it is deemed worth while to have 

 quail. 



Insects are so plentiful on many farms 

 that it would hardly seem to be necessary 

 to mention this important part of the 

 quail's bill of fare. There are places in 

 the mountains, however, and elsewhere 

 in dry seasons, where insects are scarce, 

 at times, and insects seem to be neces- 

 sary to the birds' existence. A study of 

 the insect food of bobwhite indicates 

 that over one hundred insects are eaten. 

 Dr. Judd says that insects appeared from 

 his investigations to form 15.05 per cent, 

 of the entire food for the year.^ The 

 more important insects eaten are numer- 

 ous species of beetles, including the po- 

 tato beetle, cucumber beetle, squash 

 lady bug and others found in the gar- 

 dens, and many found in grain and 

 grass fields ; other insects are grass- 

 hoppers, bugs, caterpillars and spiders. 

 Different plants have different insects 

 and a variety of planting will, of course, 

 produce a variety of insects. The food 

 of young quails consists largely of in- 

 sects and this part of the bill of fare is 

 especially important on this account. 

 Green foods, lettuce, clovers, grass, etc.. 



*S. I. Judd, Bulletin on Bobwhite and other 

 Quails of the United States. 



♦Millet undoubtedly is eaten but for some 

 reason I have seldom found quail in millet 

 fields. Wheat and buckwheat stubbles, full 

 of rag weeds, seem to be the most attractive 

 fall feeding grounds. 



