The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-10-04
SKETCH OF bob WHITE"

Professor T. Gilbert Pearson, O
Greensboro, author of "Stories o
Bird Life" contributed to the AHau
tic Educational Journal the following
sketch of the partridge or quail (coli
nus virginianus, sometimes called
the ''Bob White" Says Mr.. Pear
son
This bird probably brings more
wealth into the Southern States thar
does any other one species of the
feathered tribe. They are such uni
versal favorites among sportsmen that
thousands of men journey to the
South each winter to shoot them.
In travel, in the building of club
houses, in the employment of NUM-
bers of trainers and guides, hundreds
of thousands of dollars are annually
put into circulation. Besides this,
the hunters usually pay the land
owners for the privilege of cunning
on their premises. 1t is a universal
custom over large areas of the South
for the sportsmen regularly to pay
the taxes on the land for the sole
privilege of shooting on it. In Gull
ford county, North Carolina, over
$1,000 was paid in taxes the past
year by parties who hold contracts of
this character. More than twice this
sum was paid by the sportsmen to
trainers, wardens and cooks.
Whatever may be said against this
system by lovers of birds, there are
some things which can of a surety be
said in its favor. The sportsmen who
pay for the privilege of hunting, en-
ploy wardens to keep away the heter-
ogeneous throng of local gunners,
many of whom are pot hunters, and
some even who frequently spend their
time in shooting "for fun" every
mockingbird, sparrow, thrush, or
woodpecker which may happen to ap-
pear. Sportsmen hunt only during
small period of the year, and their
killing, as rule, does not cause any
extensive losses to the birds. In
winter, when severe weather renders
difficult the task which the birds have
of obtaining their food, it is the Gus
tom of the sportsmen to have the
snow scraped away at different places
about the fields and bushels of peas,
wheat and cracked corn put out for
them. The partridges soon learn
these places, and come here regularly
for the food SO kindly spread for them.
Nor are they the only birds which
profit by this generosity. Many
other grain and seed eating birds en-
Joy these opportunities and gather at
these wonderful spots of plenty.
Quantities of the little feathered peo-
pie are thus tided over periods of tenn
porary famine. 1t is a matter of
common observation that in sections
where this taxpaying system has been
put into practice the number of par
tridges is on the increase.
the ground beneath some bush or
grass cluster, and there deposits her
handful of pure white eggs, the beau
ty of which is soon marred by the
stains from the dead grass blades on
which they rest. The number of
eggs laid in nest varies from twelve
to twenty. The young are able to
run almost as soon as hatched. One
of the most interesting experiences of
our fields in summer is to discover a
family of bob-whites, the young of
which are as yet unable to fly. The
parents at once fain lameness, and,
with cries of distress, futter along
the earth before the intruder, adroit-
ly seeking to draw him from the vi
cinity. In many regions two broods
of young are reared in a season.
These families usually unite after the
second brood appears. Sometimes
two pairs of partridges will combine
their families, and all feed for time
I have seen as many as
sixty of these birds together in the
woods, and have observed three sizes
of young accompanied by old birds.
The food of the partridge in sum-
mer consists of many kinds of grass
hoppers, moths, bugs and other in
sects, together with any grain which
may be picked up about the fields.
In winter the birds frequent swamps
and creek bottoms to gather berries
from the bushes, and venture into
the fields on excursions for weed
seeds and such grains of wheat and
corn as may have been left on the
ground at harvest.
The partridge is a cheerful bird.
His clear, ringing whistle in spring
time, which he produces in calling to
his mate, is one of the most charac-
teristic notes of Our meadow land.
the autumn and winter he seldom
whistles, except when giving the
"scatter calP' with a view of reas-
sembling the disunited family after
some sudden fright.
These birds are easily trapped, and
vast numbers of them are captured
thus each year and sold in the local
markets for food. If not unduly per-
secuted these little hen-like birds may
survive the destructive influences of
civilization long after many other
forms of feathered life have ceased to
exist. For, although they are shot
and trapped so universally by man,
they have also been relieved of many
of their natural enemies by the same
cause, and the broad fields of grain
afford them food and cover which the
uncleared wilderness could never fur
nish.
"I COULDN'T get out of marrying
her." Henpeck explained. when
she proposed she said: Will you
marry me? Have you any objec-
tion?' You see, no matter whether
I said yes or mo- she had me. I"
"Why didn't you keep silent,