214 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
April, 1926, a few were reported on the lower Dr>' Cimmaron in Union County 
and three birds were heard of in the sandhills east of Portales (Ligon, 1927).] 
As no specimens are available from this part of New Mexico, the subspecies to 
which they should be referred is uncertain. The nearest form in Texas is the sub¬ 
species texanus, and it is probable that the Pecos Valley birds are of this form.— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Attempts to introduce the Bob-whites have met with little or no success, although 
they have been protected throughout the year since 1905. One of the first recorded 
introductions was in 1911, by the State Game Warden. Later, William II. Bartlett 
released about five hundred on his Vermejo Park Ranch, but he writes, “They did 
not stand the altitude, and drifted south and east and as far as I know have been 
killed” (MS). Some, brought from Oklahoma, were introduced in the vicinity 
of Roswell and a few may have survived (Ligon, 1927). Many have been brought 
in during recent years and with the opening of the season in 1928, shipments have 
been renewed from Coahuila, Mexico. 
Nest. —On the ground, canopied or protected by weeds or bushes, lined with 
dry grass or weeds. Eggs: 10 to 18, dull white. 
Food. —The Bol>white is of special agricultural value because it destroys a 
large amount of weed seed and a considerable number of insects. Half of its food 
is weed seed, only a fourth grain—mainly from the stubble fields—and about a 
tenth wild fruits. Fifteen per cent is composed of insects, including several of the 
most serious pests of agriculture. It feeds freely upon Colorado potato beetles 
and chinch bugs, and eats also grasshoppers, cucumber beetles, wireworms, billbugs, 
clover-leaf weevils, the Mexican cotton boll weevils, army worms, cotton worms, 
cutworms, and Rocky Mountain locusts. 
General Habits. —The Bob-whites, as Mr. Ligon explains, can not 
live on such bare ground as can the desert dwelling quail. “They must 
have the cover afforded by brush, weeds, and rank grasses” not only in 
summer but throughout the year. They prefer valley brush lands but 
these are most exposed to grazing abuse (1927, p. 142). 
The habit of “feeding directly upon field crops,” Doctor Judd pointed 
out, makes the Bob-white of peculiar economic importance. In the 
west, he says, “its favorite feeding ground is corn fields, and it often 
spends the night there instead of flying to cover as do most birds . . . 
the facility with which it passes from field to field, either on foot or on 
the wing, distributes its services to an unusual degree” (1905, p. 15). 
But, quite aside from its economic importance, this attractive bird 
coming in from the Texas borders, with its loud cheerful calls and its 
ready friendliness would be a great addition to the delightful group of 
quail whose presence enriches New Mexico. Its return in normal 
seasons to the localities it has already reached together with its extension 
over the sandhill country of eastern New Mexico up to possibly 5,500 
feet, should be intelligently encouranged by protection from wandering 
cats, dogs, and gunners, by artificial feeding in abnormal years, and, 
most important of all, by provision of adequate cover on waste lands in 
reclaimed valleys. For the disappearance of this Quail in the State is 
