New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-11
YIRGINIA'S QUAIL GONE.
Harcks Haze Nearly DIFFERENTIATED
States Game Birds.
tFrom an occasional correspondent Of me tribune

hunting men has, there been such a scarcity or
game birds in Virginia and for weeks the citi-
zens of the Old Dominion have been engaged in
a lively-if somewhat unproftabIe-discussion
of the causes which have brought about within
an Incredibly short time the virtual extermina-
ton of the quail in many parts of the State.
Two years ago there was scarcely a county
along the eastern and southern slopes that did
not shelter within its pine woods and its tangled
underground literally hundreds of coveys Of
quail The veriest novice from the North, with
his unschooled crudey handled field dogs,
thought nothing Of finding dozen coveys within
the course Of an afternoons tramp. To-day the
veteran hunter considers himself lucky If he
puts up one small covey after hours OF the
hardest kind of work
The unprecedented severity of the winter a
year ago, the prevalence Of hawks and the
floods of last May and June are the causes gen.
ereIIy ascribed for the humiliation Of Bob
White and his feathered contemporaries. the
woodcock and the pheasant. The fact that most
of the quail which have been found this fall are
second broods, and were not Matched until well
into the summer. gives some credence to the
theory that the unusual rainfall was largely re-
sponsible for the decrease, and that the young
birds were drowned before they were able to
leave the nest This theory, no doubt accounts
in a measure for the scarcity, but the farmers,
on whose plantations the quail find cover and
breeding grounds, and the natives who learned
woodcraft along with the alphabet, are unani-
nous in holding the hawk chiefly responsible.
The six weeks of bitter winter a year ago.
when the fields and woods We're covered with A
crust Of snow and ice six inches deep. placed
whole coveys Of birds at the mercy of the awI<s
No one who has ever observed the hawks meth
DDS in hunting quail, even under ordinary con-
bold and brilliant swoops from the unmasked
battery of the sky, his reckIessness and his grim
patience, will deny that in the course of the
year he is responsible for the destruction of
more birds than all the sportsmen with chilled
shot and skilled dogs combined
The shadow of a hawk, silent and sinister
on field of brown straw will transform a quiet
feeding ground into a scene tense with impend-
ing tragedy and will strike greater terror into
a covey Of quail than the noise of dozen guns.
One has only to observe the difference in the
fight of a covey flushed by a hawk and one
put up by a hunter or his dog to appreciate
this fact. When the latter puts up the birds
they will, nine times in ten, all fly in the same
direction and, Notwithstanding the shot that is
poured into the feathered ranks, will alight
within few hundred yards and within com
paratively small
A hawk squandered covey, on the other hand,
will scatter to every point of the compass, and
will frequently fly from half to three-quarters
Of a mile before seeking covert. A hunter hap
pening on a hawk hunted gang of birds before
they have gathered can readily tell who his
predecessor has been by the closeness with
which the single birds will lie for his dog.
Though he does not kill each time he strikes
the excessive fear this swift winged hunter
fmparts can readily be understood. He is as
relentless as the most shameless pot hunter
If he fails at first, he keeps on until he sue
ceeds swooping at his victim again and again
as often, in fact, as it goes to cover. The mys-
terious phenomenon of scent never balks MIN
as it does dog. He selects his victim at the
first flush and never let's UP until a tragic little
heap of feathers tells the final story of the
chase.
Although the big clumsy winged skinner
hawk is not averse- to quail and is frequently
saer hunting them, the blue wing chicken or as
he is called in many States, the owl haWk' IS oy
e. +,,e most destructive of all his species and
his ways are the most brilliant ana Spectacular 4.
GRAY and grim and silent poised on the limb OF
q naked old field pine he bides his time waiting
20 burI himself with incredible swiftness at d
little red target of deer berries, two hundred
feat av-av on which flock of birds is feeding
His presence has robbed the quiet field OF all
its browsing peace and tranquil security Even
the bIithe and careless cottontal rabbit scurrlss
to the nearest shelter
The leader of the covey sounds his nutterlhS
1ittIe note of warning and his flock instantly
rallies around him in a, compact circle. sud
denly without warning, without the 1utter OF a
wing. the gray ball on the limb overhead fires
himself at the huddIed group like a dynamite
nroiectfle If he misses he singles out one of
the birds and gives instant chase. The cry OF a
email when pursued by hawk is unlike any
ether note it has, and once having heard it one
will not readily forget it. There is something
almost human in it's despair and terror
Unlike the ruffed grouse, Bob White has little
knowledge of strategy He seldom attempts to
nut trees or other obstacles between himself
and his enemy but flies in a straight line for the
nearest shelter. Not infrequently the fast blue
wing will overhaul his quarry in mid air. and
Selling it i'll his talons, carry it off to his larder
# would be difficult to estimate the monetary
loss to the farmers and land owners which the
determination of the game birds of the State
,,-iu cause. Hundreds of Northern sportsmen
who have been coming here for years on annual
rsi1 hunts and have materially swel1ed the
doefars Of the natives with whom they have
boardad have sought new fields now, either IN
the Carolinas or in Georgia, With knowl-
odca of the loss which the determination OF It's
quail crop means 1t would allPost seem as
tboI,gb the State would take some definite steps
to,rar6 its preservation, but so far IT mas not
even taken the trouble TO place bounty on the
hawks.
MONEY FOR CYCLISTS TODAY.