Bobwhite

Since Frank Forrester wrote his charming sketches, BOBWHITE has been extolled more than any other Game Bird and the most laudatory adjectives are not undeserved for Bobwhite's personality is altogether admirable.

Here in Dutchess County the winters are too hard but sometimes a wandering covey survives and we hear that never-forgotten call from the orchard fence where blackberry wands bend above the gray rails.

After mating quarrels cease and birds are paired, family life takes on a quieter note until the eggs are transformed into active balls of unbelieveable energy. No Quail mother could survive if she had to feed all her youngsters! They forage for themselves almost from the start — and that is well for the parents.

Altho somewhat of a Lothario the father usually does his full share in looking after the family, sometimes assuming full charge when accident destroys the mother. Bobwhites are extremely fond of each other and families keep in close touch for many months, with frequent soft interrogating little calls. It is probable that the coveys found in a little circle where the Ice King's breath destroyed them, are all of one family.

They are so alluring in all ways that the hope they will be taken out of the Game Bird class is not without foundation. This fortunate consummation will occur when the fact that they are infinitely more valuable alive than dead is brot home to us.

Their food is almost entirely composed of injurious bugs, beetles and weed seeds. The lucky farmer who has a few Bobwhites in his potato patch will not be troubled with the potato bug.

Powerful leg muscles enable them to spring fully a yard into the air, and they have been known to swim some distance.

Their worst enemy is the common cat, especially those which have "gone wild." Bury all compassion when you meet one of these demons and then bury IT!

Their ability to hide in sparse cover is extraordinary and after a hard hunting season it is almost impossible to flush them. They have learned the air is dangerous when they see a dog's nose.

A little grain mixed with gravel often will save a flock after heavy snow storms — and they'll pay it all back many times over.

In many states they are being propagated successfully in enclosures and some day those Birds are going to be sent out as our allies, not as shotgun fodder.