O' 
1 he Bob white 
C. F. Hodge, Clark University 
I F nature-study could give but a single bird its proper 
place on the American continent, let that one be the 
bobwhite. Gibson has called the song of the toad 
"the sweetest sound in nature.” It must be that he 
never heard the flock-talk of a covey of young bobwhites. 
Then, too, we have the exquisite gathering call of the flock 
at evening and the cheerful whistle, and, at closer range, 
no end of small talk by both old and young birds all day 
long. With this one species our world would not be devoid 
of pleasing bird music. Again, to hold the insects in check 
and to destroy the weed seeds we need, as we shall see later, 
to have our gardens, fields, pastures, and roadsides literally 
alive with these most useful birds. 
And finally, the birds are delicious eating and very pro¬ 
lific and furnish, many claim, the finest field sport of any 
game bird. After the country is fully stocked, the enormous 
surplus which would have to be killed every fall would put 
beef trusts to confusion. How can nature-study and the 
w'ork of our boys and girls put this bird, properly appre¬ 
ciated, into every garden, field, and cover in America? 
The first thing we can do is to unite upon an appropri¬ 
ate name, and this has now been practically decided upon. 
In the Southern States it has been called the “partridge” 
and in the North the “quail.” Both names really belong 
to quite different European birds; so North and South can 
not do better than to unite upon a good American name, 
“Bobwhite,” the name he whistles to his mate. 
The range of the bobwhite extends from the Gulf 
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