EDITORIAL WANDERINGS 



America for Americans, The Outdoors for Everybody 



DAN BEARD 



STARVATION AND DEATH FOR 

 BOB WHITE. 



Scarcely a quail has been seen in Arenac 

 county, Michigan, this winter, last winter's 

 cold weather practically wiping them out. 

 A bill is to be introduced at this session of 

 the Legislature to prohibit the killing of 

 quail for five years. 



In Nebraska there are plenty of quail 

 near Unadilla, but they are starving to 

 death. Some of them have been made so 

 brave by hunger that they come into town in 

 quest of something to eat. The farmers 

 should fix it so that these birds could get a 

 little grain, sufficient to enable them to live 

 until the snow is gone. It is a shame to see 

 them starving to death, and in a country 

 where there is plenty to eat. The farmers 

 should feed and look after them, for they 

 are the best friend that the farmer has and 

 protect his crops when other birds or in- 

 sects destroy them. 



In other sections the farmers say that 

 thousands of quail are starving to death. 

 The country roads are lined with quail 

 searching for something to eat, and in 

 many cases the little fellows fly into barns 

 and granaries in search of grain. The 

 thawing and freezing of the snow of the 

 last thirty days has formed coatings of ice 

 over the ground through which the quail 

 cannot scratch to secure food. In several 

 instances entire flocks of them have been 

 found in hedges huddled together, dead, 

 caused by the severe weather and lack of 

 food. Many farmers are feeding the quail 

 on their places, and hunger tempts them to 

 leave their hiding places while the grain is 

 being scattered on the ground. 



It is a good sign when the farmers show 

 their appreciation of this useful little bird 

 by supplying it with food from their gran- 

 aries, for no matter how severe the weather 

 may be there is little danger of the birds 

 perishing with full crops. 



"Feed the quail" is the title of a circular 

 tacked up at the post office, at the instance 

 of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Pro- 

 tective Association, of which Henry H. 

 Kimball, 216 Washington street, Boston, is 

 secretary. 



The circular draws attention to the fact 

 that quail are ground feeding birds, and 

 that when the ground is covered with snow, 

 unless they can find food, they become weak 

 and die, or are devoured by their natural 

 enemies. The statement urges the preser- 

 vation of quail, and that those who know 

 where there are quail should feed the birds 



if they can, and that if not, notification serit 

 to Mr. Kimball will result in seeing that 

 the birds are taken care of. 



In and about Webster woods there are 

 some quail. The hunting season always de- 

 velops the fact that quail are to be found. 



Even as far south as Georgia and North- 

 ern Alabama advices show the cold spell to 

 be the most severe in recent years. The 

 damage caused by snow, ice and sleet will 

 reach a very large figure, and thousands of 

 quail, rabbits and other small game are re- 

 ported frozen to death in the fields. 



And starvation is also at work in the 

 stubble fields of Maryland and Virginia, 

 and show that the snow covered ground 

 and intensely cold weather are playing 

 havoc with birds. Reports coming from the 

 'river counties of those States say that 

 coveys of quail are to be found living with 

 domestic fowls. To save the birds many 

 farmers in this section are daily scattering 

 grain about the fields and highways. 



Similar reports come from the neighbor- 

 hood of Pekinill, where the Game Warden 

 says that the snow on the ground has ren- 

 dered it difficult for the game birds to find 

 their food in usual haunts, and many of 

 them have been compelled to undergo a 

 siege of hunger, which must result dis- 

 astrously if another cold snap catches the 

 birds weakened by lack of food. 



A would-be pot Kentucky hunter inquires 

 if, under the new game law, there is any 

 escape for the man who kills quail that are 

 scratching up and destroying a special crop 

 plant bed? It gives us pleasure to say 

 "No." The game law throws around the 

 quail its protecting arm, and the only legal 

 excuse for his quailship's destruction is if 

 a quail bites you, kill him, in or out of sea- 

 son. 



NOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF 

 THAT? 



Altorf Thornby, a farmer, twenty-six 

 years of age, was found unconscious upon 

 the ice at Portage lake, in Climax town- 

 ship, Kalamazoo county, by a party of rab- 

 bit hunters. When discovered, one leg was 

 in a fishing hole and around it was a solid 

 coating of ice an inch in thickness. 



Upon the member being drawn from the 

 water, the party discovered the line with 

 which he had been fishing tangled about 

 the ankle, and upon reeling it to the sur- 

 face secured what old fishermen pronounce 

 the largest pickerel ever taken in the State. 



When first discovered, it was thought 



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