10 
THE Aw Disb ON Be ie hae 
and extended their range. When osage orange hedges were 
planted on every 40 rod line through the prairie it was a golden 
age for quail because the dense low hanging branches of the 
hedge supplied the essential element of good habitat on the 
open prairie, brush close to cultivated fields, a diversified en- 
vironment. 
The late Aldo Leopold, father of modern game manage- 
ment, in his ‘‘Report on a Game Survey of the North Central 
States,’’ published in 1931, quoted a man by the name of 
A. H. Bogardus. Captain Adam Bogardus of Elkhart, I[llinois, 
a market hunter and exhibition shooter of the mid and late 
1800s wrote in a book, ‘‘Field, Cover and Trap Shooting, ” 
that in 1873, quail were more numerous in Illinois and other 
prairie states than they had ever been. He stated that there was 
not one quail in southern states to a hundred in Illinois; ac- 
cording to him, the reason for the high bobwhite density was 
cultivation and the growth of osage orange hedges. Sometimes 
I find it disheartening that almost a century ago, market hunters 
like Bogardus and Clay Merritt of Kewanee could realize how 
important the environment was to wildlife populations when 
some modern sportsmen I have talked with don't. 
To further illustrate the importance of the environment: 
In southern Illinois small, marginal farms are being consolidated 
into larger units; hillsides where dewberry vines, blackberry 
patches and sassafras sprouts grew thick, and the small crop 
fields that bordered such areas, are being planted to grasses 
such as fescue for livestock production. Bobwhite numbers go 
down when this happens. The U.S. Forest Service, in co- 
operating with the Department of Conservation, is clearing 
small areas in the Shawnee National Forest and planting them 
to legumes, grasses and small grains. This project is aimed at 
improving living conditions for wild turkey, grouse, and deer 
but it also increases the quail population. 
Getting back to that cock quail that whistles in the crab 
apple thicket, he and other male covey partners have gone 
through the winter without quarreling. The covey has spent 
the cold winter nights gathered in a tight shoulder-to-shoulder 
circle, a roosting habit that permits birds to warm one another 
and allows, too, an explosive escape in all directions should 
danger threaten. But now it’s spring and things change. Bicker- 
ing and squabbles occur, and soon the cocks, go their own ways 
to set up territories. A cock tries to find an area suitable for 
nesting. He advertises for a wife and warns other cocks to stay 
away by giving the familiar ah-bob-white call from a fence 
post, the low branch of a tree, or other vantage points. 
When the hen appears, the cock courts her by lowering 
his head and turning it to show off his white throat and head 
