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THE GAME BREEDER 



17 



QUAIL LOSSES. 



Climate; Farm Machinery; Wires. 



By Dwight W. Huntington. 



The ground and winged enemies of 

 quail and the methods of controlling 

 them were discussed in the two preced- 

 ing numbers of the magazine. Often 

 there are some additional losses due to 

 climate, "farm machinery, and wires. 

 Where these are controlled or prevented 

 even partially the shooting will be much 

 improved. 



Darwin says, "Climate plays an im- 

 portant part in determining the average 

 number of a species, and periodical sea- 

 sons of extreme cold or drought seem 

 to be the most effective of all checks. I 

 estimated (chiefly from the greatly re- 

 duced numbers of nests in the spring) 

 that the winter of 1854-5 destroyed four- 

 fifths of the birds in my own grounds; 

 and this is a tremendous destruction, 

 when we remember that ten per cent, is 

 an extraordinarily severe mortality from 

 epidemics with man. The action of cli- 

 mate seems at first sight to be quite in- 

 dependent of the struggle for existence ; 

 but in so far as climate chiefly acts in 

 reducing food, it brings on the most 

 severe struggle between the individuals, 

 whether of the same or of distinct 

 species, which subsist on the same kind 

 of food. Even when climate — for in- 

 stance, extreme cold — acts directly, it 

 will be the least vigorous individuals, or 

 those which have got least food through 

 the advancing winter which will suffer 

 most. 



That climate often acts directly in a 

 most destructive manner to check the in- 

 crease of our partridges or quails (the 

 strongest as well as the weak) is well 

 known to sportsmen and naturalists. The 

 ruffed grouse, which can live in trees 

 during severe snowstorms, does not suf- 

 fer nearly so much as the more terres- 

 trial birds do. The quail on one of my 

 favorite shooting grounds in Northern 

 Ohio were nearly exterminated one win- 

 ter by a heavy snow when an icy crust 

 was formed which imprisoned the birds 

 until they were either frozen or starved 



to death. On ground, where year after 

 year we had found the birds so plenti- 

 ful that it was an easy matter to bag 

 from 50 to 100 birds in a day, I only 

 found one small covey during several 

 days' shooting over excellent dogs, the 

 season after the severe winter. This de- 

 struction has occurred periodically, not 

 only in Ohio, but also in all of the North- 

 ern States and many laws have been 

 enacted protecting the birds for a period 

 of years in order that they might not be 

 wholly exterminated. 



In places where the birds are properly 

 looked after, such losses can be avoided 

 largely and those willing to protect the 

 birds on their lands should not be pro- 

 hibited from shooting or even selling 

 them, since it is a somewhat expensive 

 matter to feed and care for the birds, 

 and no one can .be expected to attend 

 to these matters properly if shooting be 

 prohibited or if the bag limit be made 

 very small. 



It is well known that the birds are 

 far more plentiful when the winters are 

 mild and open than they are when the 

 winters are cold and the snows are deep. 

 It is due to a favorable climate very 

 largely that the quail always are more 

 abundant in many of the Southern States 

 than they are in the North. They are, 

 however, most abundant, even in the 

 South, on the great quail preserves where 

 thousands of birds are shot annually, 

 because their natural enemies are con- 

 trolled by skilled game keepers. 



The losses due to climate, even in the 

 most severe winters, can be largely over- 

 come by providing shelters for the birds; 

 by feeding them in such places, and by a 

 persistent war on their natural enemies 

 at this season when the game is most ex- 

 posed to the vermin which is sadly in 

 need of it for its own subsistence. 



Every field inhabited by quail should 

 have one or more shelters, the number 

 depending upon the size of the field and 

 the abundance of the birds. Since the 



