Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-01-10

"Ah, hear it, 1 see it
Sitting on the rail.
Is it real, can't be it.
My old friend the quail?
Out of season, out of cover,
Turned a migrant, turned a rover
Sitting bodily in my sight,
Calling: White-Bob White
Bob-Bob White,
Bob White?"
Bob Whites are ever on the alert for
the approach of an enemy-and they
have many, man, perhaps, being the
worst. AS rule, they do not depend
on flight as protection from danger,
but rather on their protective coloring.
When flight becomes necessary as a
means of protection, they do not fly
in bunch, but scatter, and if a forest
is near by they will fly into it. When
the danger has passed their leader
will call them together again.
Generally they do not walk, but fly
to their rooSt with low, soft, noise
less flight, so that their enemies may
not h ar or track them. When their
roOSt is reached. their manner of ad-
justing themselves for the night is
unique. They arrange themselves in
circle, with their tails inward, so
that they touch each other, and with
heads outward every way so that they
can watch for an enemy and make an
easy escape if discovered. Think of
having to live such a life!
The close covey veXed with anxious
woes,
While sad they sit their anxious moth
er round,
With dismal shade the closing net
descendS
Or by the sudden gun they flutter,
fall,
And vile with blood is stained their
freckled gown.
The young Bob Whites leave The
nest as soon as they are out of the
shell and at once begin the good work
of destroying noXious weed seeds and
inSects-and each of them destroys an
enormous number of these. How cult
ming the little fellows are! One of
the old birds remains with them, leads
them to wher2 "a. most food is to t."
obtained and is ever alert in its watch
for an enemy.
Under the alders, along the brooks,
Under the hemlocks, along the hills,
Spreading their plumage with furtive
looks,
Daintily pecking the leaves at will;
Whir! and they fit from the startled
sight
And the forest is silent, the air is
still.
The economic value of the Bob
White has been carefully studied and
worked out by the department of ag-
riculture at Washington, and the re-
suits show that on the farm it is
probably our most useful species. 1t
is one of the most nearly omnivorous
birds. consuming large quantities of
noXious weed seeds and destroying
many of the worst insect pests with
which the farmer has to contend. 1t
does not injure grain, fruit or any
other crop.
4 careful computation of the total
amount of weed seed that the Bob
White is capable of destroying is sur
prising in the magnitude of the re-
suit. The state OF Virginia was the
larger field of the work of the depart
ment. The report on that state says:
1T is said to assume that from Sep
tember l to April 80. the season when
the largest proportion of weed seed
is consumed by birds, there are four
Bob Whites to the square mile, or
l69,900 in the entire state. The crop
of each of these birds will hold half an
ounce of seed, and as at each of the
two daily meals weed seed constitutes
at least half the contents of the crop,
or a quarter of an ounce, a half ounce
daily is certainly consumed by each
bird. On this very conservative basis
the total during the time hereinbe-
before mentioned consumption of weed
seed by Bob Whites amounts to 573
tons"
The report further shows that in
sectS are eaten by the Bob White dur
ing every month of the year, and
amount to 1893 per cent of its food
for the entire year. From May to
August, inclusive, when insects are
most numerous, the percentage rises
to 31.5.
The variety of insect food used is
very large. The investigation show
ed that 116 species of insects had en-
tered into the diet of the birds exam
ined. The report adds: "Further-
more. the proportion of injurious in
SeCtS habitually eaten by the Bob
White makes it's services as destroyer
of insects more valuable than those
of many birds whose percentage of in
sect food. though greater, includes a
smaller proportion of injurious Spe-
CieS. Conspicuous among the pests
which the Pob White destroys are the
potato beetle. the thirteen spotted Gu
cumber beetle. the bean leaf beetle. the
squash ladybird, wireWOrmS and their
beetles. May beetles. such weevils as
the COrnhill bug. the imbriCated snout
beetle, the clover leaf weevil. the Mex
lean cotton boil wcevil. the striped