The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1906-02-03
AS z firalc sometimes. came = Iord

a broken voiced whippoorwill."
I-e call OF the hen to her young
sters is Invariably "ka-loi-kee." "ka-
Iot-kee." while the youngsters respond
"Whoil-G2-. :. 4 close range the
whistle Of he bird Icsas all its melody
and becomes a nasal Shrek almost
painful 10 The ear.
A. many IS for-y-two eggs have
been found in the nest Of & Bob White.
The main breeding season for the Bob
White in TIE Northern States is Nav.
June and July, although Prof Robert
I Ridseway. curator OF ornitholegv in
I the Smithsonian Institution. found a
/ nest of Bob White eggs in southern
! Illinois in the middle Of October.
/ Another naturalist found nest filed
with eggs in Missouri in January, on
/ which the mother bird was found
/ frozen. Two or three broods have
been produced in season
There is tendency among Bob
! Whites toward local migration In
Virginia and Maryland. particularly,
they leave their summer homes on the
approach Of winter and cCngresate
/ near the large water courses.
The habit Of the bird during the
hunting season is to move about most
actively and feed in the early morn
ing and late afternoon. The best shoot
ing is to be had the hour before sun
set, III the places where the birds have
decided to spend the night They
roost on the ground, forming a solid
ring. with tails in and heads out.
The Bob White as an ally Of the
farmers is chiefly valuable as a de-
stroyer of weed seeds. Prof Judd
made an estimate of what the Bob
White would accomplish in this line
for the farmers Of the two states OF
Virginia and North Carolina from the
beginning of September to the end OF
April.
He allowed four Bob Whites to each
square mile of land, which is a low
estimate and would give 354,S20 in
the two states. The crop of each bird
holds half an ounce of seed and is
filled twice day.
Since at each Of the two daily meals
weed seeds constitute at least half the
contents of the crop, half ounce daily
is thus consumed by each bird. and on
this basis the total consumption Of
seed in the two states covering the
period mentioned would amount to
1871 tons. A similar calculation shows
that $40 tons of destructive insects
would be consumed BY the birds in the
same period. The Bob White eats the
Rocky Mountain locust, the chinch
bug, the potato beetle, the cotton boil
Weevil and cotton worms and army
worms.
Prof. Judd estimated that with prop
eT management some farms of from
500 to 1000 acres would yield a better
revenue from the raising of Bob
Whites for the market than from poul-
try growing. In North Carolina many
farms yield regular income by this
industry
The shooting rights are leased to
sportsmen who pay considerable sums
for the privilege. In some places in
Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina
sportsmen pay from five to twenty-five
cents for every bird shot.
Millions of dollars can be realized
by the proper management Of the
quail crop of the United States No
game is SO much sought for in the
market as quail.
The writer" says Prof. Judd,
knows of single dealer in Wash
ngton who in 1902 sold 100000 quail.
The present price is SO to S. dozen,
yet Audubon tells us that in 1910 the
birds could be bought for II cents
lozen and in 1851 for so cents
lozen"
T. S. Van Dyde, the author says:
Dear little Bob White has brought
more rest to the business wearied soul.
more new life to tired humanity than
nearly all other American game COM
,ined.' Prof Judd said that the pur-
uit of many kinds of game is posi-
lie only in the distant wilderness,
where travelling is difficult and the ex-
,osure incident to the sport may be
dangerous to health: but the pursuit
II the Bob White belongs to open, ac-
tooiDIc SOuHtIS, duu Is uOl tOO oe'eTc
or men accustomed to sedentary
lie.
To thousands of such men quail
uniting is the yearly means of restora-
ion and results in direct benefit to
he community. though one not readily
omputed in money value. At con-
ervative estimate, between 100000
nd 100000 sportsmen go out from
tiles every fall to hunt Bob White,
which means large expenditure of
money, much of which goes to farm
rs who hold shooting land.-New