IOWA BIRD LIFE— XI, 11)41 
48 
ton, 1039: 25-27), although, had it not been for the immediate obstacle 
,o survival imposed by a temperature of 25 J below zero, most would 
doubtless have lived some days longer. 
The value of the Bob-white’s compact, circular roosting huddle for 
the conservation of heat has been experimentally demonstrated by 
^.^11 (1939), who found “That, at least within certain limits, the 
ability ot a covey of quail to withstand low temperatures is directly 
proportmnal to the size of that covey”. On the two covey roosts where 
the heaviest mortality occurred during the night of January 17, the 
huddles had been reformed to the exclusion of the dying members. 
In one of two instances in which four birds died together, the victims 
froze side by side as a part of the huddled covey; in the other, their 
bodies before freezing were jammed into a corner of the roost by the 
activities of the stronger ones. 
More typical of starving Bob-whites was the fate of the third un- 
fortunate covey. On January 1, 1940, 34 birds were massed at the 
edge ot a corn tie Id, Data for the next couple of weeks are too incom- 
plete to permit reconstruction of the whole story, but, on the afternoon 
of January 17, when the cold was intensifying, I observed a covey of 
nine uncomfortable-appearing birds. The evidence indicated that two 
already had died. Four carcasses were found of birds dying between 
the night of January 17 and the morning of January 20, of which that 
ot a male recovered from a roost weighed 137 grams. Two of the five 
birds alive on January 20 were obviously weak. On January 22 there 
were only four, including a weak one; three davs later, this weik one 
could not be induced to fly but dived instead into a hole in the ground, 
i wo recent carcasses and three live birds were found January 31; by 
February 10, the three live ones had joined a covey of II in a farm 
yard. 
Thu lesulting covey had lost one member from an undetermined 
cause by February 21; by February 24. 2 birds (a male and a female) 
were sitting apart from the other 11, perhaps as a mating pair; by 
March 10, only 10 were found. The covey of 11 apparently was one 
that had abandoned the original cornfield as the food situation grew 
worse, to spend most of January about a feeding station maintained 
by sportsmen, then later to move to the farm yard. An area of about 
one-half section of land was common wintering range of both starving 
an ^, bettei ‘ cove ys. but each habitually used a different side 
The total of 37 carcasses recovered from the three starving coveys 
lepresents 80 percent of 46 birds known to have died during the winter 
°? ?i^77o" aCie a J' ea unt *er observation and 81 percent of a net decline 
- 1J ^ 1:0 1.' December to late February). It is true that 
pait of the decline is attributable to birds moving from the area and 
that some influx likewise occurred; but, aside from these variables, it 
was to be seen that the January snow and cold made a fairly clean 
sweep of coveys unfavorably situated with respect to food. Acces- 
sibility of grain in farm yards and of soy beans persisting above the 
snow went far to offset the lack of food in cornfields. Deliberate and 
conscientious feeding by farmers and sportsmen also did much to 
mitigate the emergency. 
Literature Cited 
Errington, Paul L. 
1933. The Wintering of the Wisconsin Bob-white Trans Wis 
Acad. Sei„ Arts and Letters, 2S: 1-35. 
lJ-j8a. Sex and Resistance of Bob-whites and Ring-necked Pheas- 
ants to Starvation. Auk. 53; 78-79, 
1936b. The Winter of 1934-35 and Iowa Bob-whites. Amer Mid) 
^at., 1 7: 554-568. 
1939. The Comparative Ability of the Bob-white and the Ring- 
