Bobwhite Chick Three Weeks Old—Usual Occupation 
Bobwhites sometimes come into the barnyards to feed 
with the poultry, and coveys may often be brought through 
the winter by encouraging them to do this. 
A reasonable estimate places our annual loss caused by 
weeds at $17,000,000, and the yearly tax imposed by insects 
at $795,100,000. The natural food of the bobwhite is weed- 
seed and insects, and it seems to like the worst kinds best. 
Mrs. Margaret Morse Nice has just completed an ex¬ 
haustive study of the food of the bobwhite. Instead of kill¬ 
ing the birds and analyzing the contents of the crop, she 
has worked by the living feeding-test method. That is, she 
has offered different foods to the birds and has counted or 
weighed the amount eaten. The total food for a day forms 
a natural unit in this work, and a great many of these daily 
dietaries have been studied; among them we may quote 
a few: 
1,350 flies, eaten in one day by a laying hen along with 
weed-seeds and green food. 
5,000 aphids, besides other food. 
1,286 rose slugs, July 2. (Test by Mazie Hodge, aged 
8 years.) 
