138 



THE GAME BREEDER 



are largely eaten and it is desirable to 

 see that these foods are 'evenly distrib- 

 uted. A few clover seeds, lettuce seeds 

 and others easily can be planted near the 

 covers reserved for the birds. 



In the Southern states cow peas, 

 which often are planted especially for 

 the quail, and the seeds of the long leaf 

 pine constitute a good part of the food. 

 Acorns, beech nuts and other mast are 

 eaten and one of my correspondents says 

 he once found the quail living almost 

 exclusively on small acorns during the 

 shooting season in North Carolina.* 



Many fruits, probably all, are eaten by 

 quail. The blackberries and wild rasp- 

 berries are among the most important 

 since they afford safe covers as well as 

 foods, but wild strawberries, winter- 

 green, wild cherries, apples and all other 

 fruits may well be preserved where they 

 occur, and strawberries, huckleberries 

 and many other wild berries easily can be 

 introduced and permitted to grow near 

 the covers provided for the game. 



It is by no means necessary to have 

 all or nearly all of the foods referred to 

 on a preserve, but some, at least, of the 

 various grains, weeds and fruits should 

 be preserved or introduced at intervals 

 since it is highly desirable to have the 

 game evenly distributed and the shooting 

 good in every field. 



In Hungary vast areas are planted 

 with alternating strips of corn and wheat 

 or other small grain and the partridges, 

 being protected from vermin, literally 

 swarm on such areas. The numbers 

 shot, and trapped and sold alive seem 

 almost incredible. Captain C. E. Rad- 

 cliffe, describing an Hungarian estate 

 where the owner takes an interest in pre- 

 serving partridges, says : "The average 

 head of game per acre is positively be- 

 wildering: A thing which strikes the 

 English eye is the absence of any hedges 

 or suitable places for the birds to nest 

 in, but this does not appear to affect the 

 birds much if one may judge by the 

 number on the ground, and it consider- 

 able assists the keepers in killing off the 

 vermin, in which respect, also, Hungary 



*J. B. Foote, in The Game Breeder. 



is plentifully supplied. As a general 

 rule, crops of corn arc sown in long 

 strips, with spaces between each where 

 small grain of various kinds is also 

 sown. 



The strips of each are about 50 to 150 

 yards wide and as soon as the small 

 grain has been harvested the birds take 

 refuge in the corn during the heat of 

 the day.* 



Describing the shooting, which con- 

 sists in walking up the birds without the 

 aid of dogs, he says, "The clouds of 

 partridges which come out of each strip 

 of corn are absolutely bewildering. At 

 first, before any birds have been scat- 

 tered, coveys come out four and five at 

 a time and get packed like grouse. He 

 assisted two other guns in shooting 454 

 partridges in less than five hours shoot- 

 ing, the bag being made in a field of less 

 than 300 acres. He says, over 10,000 

 birds were shot in ten days' shooting and 

 that the bag easily could have been 

 doubled by a few days more shooting. 

 The birds are plentiful because their 

 enemies are controlled and because they 

 are fed and properly looked after in the 

 winter season. 



Our quail and prairie grouse shooting 

 easily can be made fully as good by a 

 proper handling of the birds on places 

 where the owner or shooting tenant, 

 "takes an interest in preserving game." 



The food habits of the California val- 

 ley quail and the other western species 

 are somewhat similar to that of bob- 

 white and the methods of preserving 

 which I have outlined may be applied to 

 all of them. Protect the birds from 

 their natural enemies, see that foods and 

 covers are abundant and evenly distrib- 

 uted and the birds quickly will become 

 plentiful on the protected areas and re- 

 main so although thousands be shot 

 every season. 



The masked bob-white, before it be- 

 came extinct in Arizona, was observed 

 feeding in wheat and barley fields. The 



1 



*The owners of prairie farms in the West 

 will find it easy to have an abundance of quail 

 and grouse by proper planting and protection 

 and the birds will be worth as much as the 



gram. 



i 



