Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1916-03-10
STOP BIRD MURDER
Scientists Protest Against Wan
ton Slaughter.
Farmers Fail TO Appreciate the True
Value Of Their Feathered Helpers
Their Work Extoiied as
Foes Of insects.

St Michaels. MIDI all the birds
we're destroyed the world would be
overrun with insects in from seven
to nine years" says Michelet. the
French historian.
The slaughter of the bobwhite, bet
tee known here as quail and partridge,
has ceased. as the season is over and
the bird is about extinct. The gun.
uers have been persistent and every
cOvey that nested in the woods last
summer was trailed and shot this win
ter. Maryland is one OF only six
states. with the District of COLUMBIA.
which has an open season for quail.
F%orty-siX states realize that the bob
white Is a valuable asset and protect
him from the gunner.
The biological survey has been and,
is making efforts to teach the farmer
that birds are his best friends and
that without them farming would be
impossible.
There is something more than game
ness and six ounces of delicately flaw
Ored meat to bobwhite. DR.. Sylvester
ahuh VI TX UAoAO6iInA onA N0g ndo hClh
autOpsies over hundreds OF dead. and
Mrs Margaret Morse Nice Of Clark
university has played detective on bob
white living. They have discovered
that bobwhite is marVelously bench.
cent to human kind. Nature has o
provided such another scourge TO in.
sects and exterminator of weed seeds
He is nonmigratOry and will be found
at his business place twelve months
OF the year.
On his ordinary bill Of fare will be
found ia kinds OF insects and 1919 OF
weed seed The gunner who shoots
him imagines that grain is about all
he eats. but as a matter Of fact It
u to only one-slxth OF his food
for the year. and this Is taken not
from the standing crops or among the
sheaves at harvest time. but from
what escapes the reaper. When grain
is sprouting in the fields bobwhite has
other matters to attend. for late In
the spring and summer twothirds OF
his food consists Of the grains insect
foes. which make rs per cent on the
years total in the wild. CT more thar
q third in captivity. It is an import.
ant list. too. for birds not OF his kind
eschew many OF his favorites. He
likes the potato beetle. the cucumber
beetle. squash lady bug, corn bill bug.
cutworms. tobacco worms. clover wee
vii. cotton boil weevil. intoxicated
'snOut beetle. May beetle. plant lice,
g-rasshoppers. Rocky Mountain locust
and chinch bug
The bObwhite chicks. eating a per
cen OF their weight daily. live for six
weelss pm insects. and In this time
consume 10000 each One. a week
old. ate 1895 plant lice and 20 meal
worms. nd was not lone for the day
Here are some single meals for
adults:
Boil weevils. ~; potato bugs. iOI:
chinch bugs. 100: squash bugs. 70:
army worms ~: cutworms. 70: mos
G%ultoes. 568-all In three hours. And
as a sample OF a days work. In addi
ton to seeds. grain and green food
note 1850 flies and 1886 rose slugs
or 5000 plant lice
IN the winter months the bobwhite
turns to weed seeds. which form more
than half his food for the year. and
here are samples OF one birds con
sumption for one day:
narnyard grass $500; begEar ticks
400: black mustard. $500: burdock
600: crab grass. 1000: curled dock
4.l75; dodder. 1860: evening prim
rose. 10000; lambs quarters. 5000;
pilkweed. no: pepper grass S.AUO;
pigweed. $4,000; p~lantain. 1880. rab
bits foot. clover. 10000; bush clover
1900; smartWeed. S,25O; white yer