Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-11-07
Oh, FOR BOB WHITE
Ka Know Him Better than When
1 He Lived among Us, and Would
| Treat Him Better Should He
| Come Again.

Nome AGAIN.
He has all but vanished from
Ne haunts Of men. His ringing
sall 10 heard no more in all tho
had. He was ruthlees1y slain ny
man. being an innocent victim of
mans lust for blood. Yet he was
enc Of the most useful friends man
AEer had. We know now how great
Kas the mistake i'm destroying him;
hut the trouble is that we learned
Z too late.
"a quail killed in a cotton field
~ Texas had in his craw the re.
mains OF 127 cotton boil weevils.
Another that was killed in a potato
6eld In Pennsylvania had in his
sraw the remains Of 101 potato
Rnga Another killed in
Kansas wheat field had in Its crop
he remains OF over 1900 chinchl
blgs.
Mrs. Margaret M. Nice OF Cam
Bridge, Mass, has made am exhaust
Ire study Of the food Of the Bob
white. Istead Of killing the birds
end analysing the contents OF the
arop. she has worked by the living
feeding test method. That Is, she
has offered different foods to the
Birds, and has counted and weighed
me amounts eaten. The total food
Tor q day forms a natural unit in
this work, and great many Of
these daily dietaries have been stu
died; among them we may quote
. eew:
Zone thousand, three hundred
aad fifty house flies, eaten i'm one
LAY. by. laying hen. along with
weed seeds and green food; 5000
aphids. besides other food; 1885
rose slugs, 81 grass-hoppers and
1900 seeds Of pigeon grass by
0iG-weeks- old chick; IS large black
srickets and "a grass-hoppers by
= seven-weeks old chick; 700 I'M
aects. 500 Of them grass hoppers.
~ laying hen in July; 1852 In
eacts. 1000 Of them grass-hoppers,
~ a laying hen in July.
seTests were made to determine
how many weed seeds a quail would
sat in a day. Some Of the results
ere: s
Curled dock 4.175; Plaintain H.
500; Pigweed $4,000; smartweed
$3.50: Lambs quarter $4,000.
Y. le Bob White has been known
10 eat 135 different kinds of i'm
scots many OF them the most in
furious we haye-the potato beetle
(Which few other birds eat) Gu
sumber beetle. cut worm, army
worm, wire worm, chdnch bug, cot
ton boz, worm and cotton boil wse-
vii.
"Th>se SIT dies which, constitute
tue most complete and careful in
yes.igation ever made of the food
sf any bird, have enabled Mrs. Nice
to estimate that a Bob White hen
will eat an average Of $4,000 in
sects and 100000 weed seeds in
q year-about seven and one half
sounds of insects and 100 hounds
Of weed seed.
"The natural life of a quail is
about ten years, so that each OF
these birds may be supposed to
eat during its lifetime 7,50O,OoO
iasects and 6O.oOo,OO0 weed seeds.
Yet there are thousands OF men,
end kill every quail they can find.
A dead quail is worth in the mar
ret possibly onesdollar.s A man ma:
eat 1t i'm a few minutes and for
get it. What a shameful ending
who delight to go out in the TAN
Tor so faithful and so valuable a
friend of mankind.
A few years. ago there We're mil
Hons of quail all over the SOUTH
~rn. middle and eastern states. TO
day they are almost extinct every
where. A pair of Bob Whites I'M
demonstration have produced LOO
eggs in a season. Five hens lald
am average Of sixty-five eggs apiece
"To hold the insects in check
and to destroy the weed seeds, we
need to have our gardens, fields
nastmres and roadsddes literally
alive with these useful birds.