Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-04-23
THE BOBWKETE

The Bobwhite quail is by far our
most valuable bird. No other wild
or tame bird even comes near 1t FOR
value as destroyer of insects. No
bird of it's size eats less fruit or grain
Of value. They eat very little grain
in summer when insects are obtain
able. In winter they can only get
weed seed. | have often heard from
unreliable sports that they have seen
great focks of quail on wheat shocks
with nearly all of the wheat gone,
etc. Who ever saw a flock Of quail
at the season of the year when wheat
is ripe and in shock? At this time
they are paired and mother bird is
on her nest with father bird near
by on guard singing BOB WHITE
] also have heard sports say and
have also read in newspapers that it
takes shooting quail to make them
scatter or they will inbreed. This
is another unreliable story and just
as false as the wheat shock quail
story scheme. If they ever inbreed
it is when they are SO scarce that
only one family is findable.
Quail live on the ground and are
thus the prey of nearly all pests
such as foxes, hawks, owls Gall
kinds) and their nests to crows,
skunks, etc. Quail are nesting at
early harvest season. Each farmer
should be friendly with his quail
and try to locate all nests possible
and protect them from dogs, cats
and pests. Also when in the open
meadow drive a stake near nest.
Then when moving leave a patch Of
grass If not they will never return.
The flock of quail Matched will be
worth $50 which Will many times
pay you for the protection.
Quail all over the farm as thick
as English sparrows in the barn
yard maybe would double the farm
crop and thus be your most valuable
possession. Each quail allowed to
| live q natural life is worth more
than $40, but is not worth over 25
cents for meat value. Then why
make it d game bird? Ohio conser-
yation heads say they are going TO
| do this next year. Well, throwing
away a SO thing for rs cents may
be the reason we are paying 20
| times more taxes than we did 20
| years ago. We KNOW that many,
calling themselves sportsmen have
organized to pOt-hunt quail, even
shooting them from fence posts in
summer to make it appear that they
| fare better as game birds. Some
conservation officers seem to en-
courage this.
! Quail will be as tame and friend
| ly as chickens If used the same way
One acre soWed to millet, buck
wheat, kaffircOrn, etc, to fall down
| for winter shelter and food for birds
and especially quail. This would,
we believe, be the most valuable
acre on the farm.
| Every stock of grass is well COW
cred with insects and their eggs
| from invisible size to large. Each
quail destroys thousands Of these
each day from jiggers to grasshop-
pers in size.
Let us see who is behind this drive
to kill quail and the way they do it.
First he trains a certain kind of dog
to hunt only quail. The dog can
scent them quite a distance, then
the dog slips up near them and
stands very still, this causes them to
bunch and watch the dog The dog
LTdlupu HOL W HUSH llISul uilCIl liiS
master comes and gets his gun
pointed. The gun usually an auto
matte that shoots six times and as
fast as you can count The quail
load has about 500 little bullets in
each load. Thus he fills the air with
four or five thousand bullets that
get them all as they stay on open
ground and fly straight making them
very easy to kill with such gun
If one or two should escape they are
pointed again by the dog and held
for a second bombardment. Who
calls potting these dear little birds
Gas pretty and innocent as Cardi-
nals) sport? He says his pleasure is
from watching his dog work. II he
enjoys training dogs why not train
him to roll over or to speak for his
breakfast, then when he wants tc
shoot go to the trap and break clay
birds. They are much harder to hit
&c. F. STEBBINS, Beverly, Ohio.