BY THE WAYSIDE 
26 
On tliis basis, the total consumption of 
weed seeds by Bob-Whites from Septem¬ 
ber 1 to April 30 in Virginia and North 
Carolina amounts to 1,341 tons.' 7 (P. 14, 
Bui. 21. Bureau of Biological Survey.) 
When we consider that a single one of 
these might produce a plant bearing 
thousands of seeds in a single season, and 
this process, if unchecked, would in three 
years produce not millions, but billions ol 
weeds, we may get some idea of the value 
of the quail as a weed destroyer—a work 
in which he is ably assisted by the 
mourning dove, the meadow lark and 
other allies. 
After a winter in which a vegetarian 
diet has largely predominated, Bob- 
White has no desire for sprouting grain, 
but early in the spring he is out on the 
war path hunting for animal food. Al¬ 
though in most climates he . can find 
more or less insect food during every 
month in the vear. his bright eves are 
always on the lookout for the earliest 
comers among the insect pests, and dur¬ 
ing the spring, summer and autumn, his 
services in this direction are invaluable. 
The chinch bug leads the list of expen¬ 
sive insects with a tribute levied upon 
the American farmers which is esti¬ 
mated at $100,000,000 per year. This 
destructive little pest invades the wheat 
fields in armies, but Bob-White leads 
his covey to the fray, and if he had war¬ 
riors enough, he could eradicate the foe, 
for the bugs winter in just such situations 
as are frequented by the quail, and the 
birds feast upon them whenever they are 
available. 
In a letter to the Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Mr. M. A. Page, of Garnet, Kan¬ 
sas, says of the quail: “On opening the 
crop we found about two tablespoonfuls 
of chinch bugs.” 
” O k 
The grasshopper stands next in the 
amount of damage done, and $90,000,000 
per year is a conservative estimate of his 
tax upon this country, for he sometimes 
devastates whole states. But here, too, 
Bob-White is on duty with the meadow 
larks, all of them feeding voraciously 
upon the invader. 
The potato bug is another enemy 
which has cost the American farmer a 
vast amount of trouble and expense. In 
spite of large expenditures for poisons, 
this beetle still costs us about $8,000,000 
per year. Very few birds will touch the 
disgusting creatures, but the rose-breasted 
grosbeak and faithful Bob-White are al¬ 
ways ready for them. The potato bug is 
not an occasional article of food, but when 
available is made a constant article of 
diet; one crop of a quail has been found 
to contain 100 of them; neither is this 
useful habit of protecting the potato 
vines confined to any one locality. Re¬ 
ports to the same effect have come to the 
Biological Survey from Ontario, New 
Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Iowa, Ne¬ 
braska, Kansas and Texas. In some 
cases of badly infested potato vines, Bob- 
Whites have been seen patrolling the 
rows, and carefully picking off’the bugs. 
The Mexican Cotton Boll Weevil came 
over the border in 1894 and less than 
ten years later it was costing America 
$15,000,000 per year, and these figures 
soon rose to $20,000,000. As yet it is 
mostly confined to Texas, but threatens 
to , sweep over the entire cotton belt. 
Hence all the cotton states would do 
well to prohibit the shooting of a single 
quail until this foe is exterminated, for 
Bob-White is looking for him and feed¬ 
ing upon him. F. M. Howard, of Bee- 
ville, Texas, writes to the Bureau of En¬ 
tomology that the Bob-Whites shot in 
