Show GIVE QUAIL A CHANCE I 1 18 8 FA FARMERS FRIEND AND MONEY SAVER everywhere sportsman in destroying birds of such direct economic importance does doca damage which cannot be Es timatea in dollars careful and conservative students of its habits h have ave rated every quail as worth five dollars to the farmon fanner r few bew turkeys yield so BO mu much ch yet the farmer would feet feel insulted to havo have a sportsman an ask or take without asking tho the privilege of shooting some of his domestic fowls tho the man with the gun may riot not malm or even frighten hla his horses and cattle though he frequently does injure them more or less through tho ho latter cause if not tho the former but in destroying birds of at such direct economic importance ho he does a damage which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents guiltless of oven even a little trespass ing ng charged to its cousin the ruffed grouse or ph casani that of feasting on young twigs sprouts ts and buds it has never been convicted of real damage at any season of tho the year it la is a diligent gleaner in stubble fields but there la Is no evid evidence enco that it destroys either sprouting or ripening grain few birds save pave the roso rose grosbeak will devour colorado potato bugs like the quail the moth and larva of the cutworm cut worm are eaten with relish chinch bug cotton worm cucumber beetle wireworm cloverleaf clover lear weevil army worm cotton boll weevil rose bug grasshopper locust and tobacco worm butterfly aro are among the ingredients of its flesh diet few birds eat so largo large a proportion of injurious insects just the money value saved to us by this intervention cannot be even approximated but when we con j eggs of the bob white bider the fact that figures show the loss from the boll worm in some years at potato beetle cotton worm chinch bug and rocky mountain locust each it Is very evident that birds which make them a considerable portion of their food are too valuable to be killed hilled just for sport As a seed and weed destroyer ita it Inis mission sion la Is scarcely less important the food capacity of each bird Is estimated at a half ounce per day some one taking virginia for the basis of computation and allowing four quails to the square mile finds that in that state alone tons of seeds seed are consumed by quails during tho months from september 1 to april SO 0 some of our worst weeds are also included in the list as aa grab grass black plantain cockle orange hawkweed hawk weed ragweed rag weed fox tall wild morning glory and bindweed though a prolific race quails havo have other enemies than tho the gunner to work for their extinction one of tho the most common Is heavy snow cutting ott oft their food supply As they aro are ground birds heavy snow enow followed by rain or sleet elect often forms a crust under which they are horte hopelessly lessly buried the farmer who scatters grala free ly about the yard in it timo time of heavy snow will find that they are as regular feeders as aa his domestic fowls and the little ca care re given tor for the short period required pays in pleasure as well as la in dollars and cents |