No trend in weight was detected for adults. Recently, however, the bobwhite has been systematically excluded by the reduction in available habitat as the economics of farming demanded more intensive use of agricultural lands. The food habits of 302 bobwhite quail collected on a cattle ranch in the tallgrass prairie of northeastern Oklahoma are reported in this paper. The physiography is level to gently sloping plains broken by east-facing escarpments and low, buttelike knobs. The remainder of the ranch includes tame pasture and cropland.
Winters are moderate and sunny with cold periods usually lasting only a few days.
Bobwhite on the ranch are managed by W. W. Ingersoll in cooperation with several field trial clubs, which sponsor the Oklahoma Open Championship, American Field Quail Futurity, and other field trials of local and national significance. Present habitat management includes 32 food plots, each approximately 15 by 60 m planted to Sorghum almum . Plots were generally placed as near woody cover as possible. Most food plots also contained a feeder. There were 60 feeders on the ranch in which maize seed was available from September through February to supplement the quails' diet of naturally occurring foods.