patie ere Un OMN, BAU ior EeIat N 
Quail may be aged by looking at the primary feathers of a wing. 
This bird was about 14% weeks old when bagged. The third 
feather from the top ts growing in, replacing a juvenile feather. 
not only quail but rabbits, pheasants, songbirds and any other 
wildlife that likes brush. Game technicians contact farmers and 
plant shrubs, conifers and hardwood trees on their land and 
encourage landowners to let native cover grow. Over 5,000 
miles of multiflora rose and some 20 million trees have been 
planted on Illinois farms as a result of this project. 
A true quail hunter (and I like to consider myself one) 
will invest all the money his wife will let him in good dogs and 
short, light shotguns. I am acquainted with affluent bird hunters 
who think nothing of paying as much for a fine dog, one 
with blood lines longer than Queen Elizabeth’s, as the average 
person pays for an automobile. There is, in my opinion, a 
kinship or strong bond existing between a quail hunter and 
his dog that you usually don’t find between master and canine. 
What is a bobwhite? He is different things to different 
people. To a bird watcher, and I am one, he is a charming 
resident of the thicket. To an old German farmer of the Dutch 
Prairie near Augsburg, he is a potatopatch-chinch-bug eater .. 
useful and therefore welcome. But the chances are that this 
farmer won't go out of his way to encourage the bobwhite, 
15 
