Northern bobwhite

But, golly, I love Montana, Wyoming.

The sneaky state, and I probably shouldn't tell anybody this, but I think the sneaky state for quail is New Mexico because it has Bob White, it's got Blue or Scaled, it's got Gambles, and it's got Mearns.

And golly, it's got so much public land, and you can just turn out about anywhere, and put some boot leather in and you'll have some success.

So I can't really name one that I, I like a lot more than the others.

Even the, the second time has been even funner than the first time.

So, uh, I appreciate it.

And, uh, hopefully you ever get to Oklahoma, give me a call and, uh, maybe I can accidentally put you on some old Bob white coil.

There we go.

Um, what is the name of that study?

It's, uh, Estimating Crippling Loss from Hunting With Multi-State Models, uh, A Case Study on Northern Bobwhites, and it's publicly available.

Uh, if you just do a Google search for that, it'll come up in the, uh, Wildlife Biology journal.

Okay.

Um, and so at the, at the same time, I'm a big fan of, of stuff that highlights the micro details.

So what comes to mind when I say that is, um, a number of years ago at seaweed, there was a painting there that I took a picture of and it was basically, it was the painting of Bob White's feathers.

Like it wasn't, it wasn't a whole Bob White.

It was just, you know, uh, 18 by 20, you know, close up of two dozen feathers, right? Like you, like you held the bird super close to the phone and took a picture.

Um, you know, and I, and I think as somebody that's been around this space for a long time and like, you really, you know, we've all had that experience where you kill a bird and you bring it to hand and you just marvel at it.

A Bird Book for Children by J. H. Stickney.

Bob White.

Half a mile away you can hear Bob White whistling his name.

Bob White? Bob White? the sound is so distinct that dogs when they hear it first show that they would take it for a call of a human being following the sound and keeping a sharp lookout you may find him on the fence rail and if you creep cautiously near you will see what a handsome bird he is his throat is pure white his head marked with black and white and his short fat body a rich brown why is he whistling so clearly if you answer him for you can learn to whistle the notes almost as clearly as he does you may see a very fierce little quail come flying to the spot where you are hidden for the whistling of the quail like the drumming of the grouse is a call to his mate and a challenge to all his rivals under the blackberry vines along the wall or in a tuft of grass in the open fields his mate is covering or trying to cover a set of eggs which would be a joy for you to see row within row of pure white beautiful eggs sometimes as many as twenty in a nest when the little ones hatch they come out already clothed with down and run off with their mother like young grouse or barnyard chickens their parents look after them however very carefully teaching them to hide in the grass at the approach of hawks or prowling cats like the grouse the quail rarely leaves the fields where he was born but unlike the grouse the flock or covey as it is called generally keep together all winter and instead of roosting on trees they have a very sociable habit of spending the night the whole company squat on the ground close together heads out their tails forming the center of a circle in this way they are kept warm and can be on the lookout for danger one winter a sad winter for quails there was a heavy snow which covered the ground deeply for weeks when it finally melted the little circle of quail bodies was found dead the snow had smothered and buried them as the ashes buried the people of pompeii when the winter is not too severe the quails scratch the snow away hunting for seeds and grain if they have not been hunted or pursued too much they sometimes become very tame and come shyly into the barnyard or about the house for food in summer berries and corn and wheat that have dropped from the ears are crushed by their short stout bills and they fill out their daily bill of fare with grubs and insects the wings of a quail though strong are short in comparison with the weight of his body they are also somewhat concave like the inner side of a watch-crystal so that when the bird flies the rapid strokes and the shape of the wing make a loud whirring sound quail are not as common as they once were too many of them instead of wandering about the pastures hang in the markets their pretty feathers soiled and a little stained of blood telling the story of their death but if the extermination were to become complete the only ones to be benefited would be such real enemies to our crops as the potato beetle and the cut-worm in wisconsin they were brought back by a state law as song birds were said to be in killingworth chapter thirty three chapter thirty four of bird world a bird book for children audubon and the phoebes a pair of phoebes once built in a cave near audubon's house he visited them so often and was so careful not to frighten them that they finally paid no more heed to his presence than if he had been a post he was therefore able to learn much about their manner of life he found out how often eggs were laid and how long the females sat upon them as the young grew up he handled them frequently so they too grew accustomed to him as they grew older he tied bits of thread to their legs but these they always pulled off when however they became so used to the threads that they allowed them to remain on their legs audubon wound a silver thread on the leg of each loose enough not to hurt them but so fastened that no exertion of the bird could remove them soon the birds left the nest and in the autumn went south

Dave Portnoy here.

Something big is coming.

The migration of different kinds of birds is becoming better known every year.

And as they are interesting visitors, we are all glad to know when they will come our way and how we may know them as they pass.

They didn't see the willful little breeze curled up under the bayberry bush, so intent were these two rogues in plotting mischief.

They were planning to steal down across the green meadows to the edge of the brown pasture where Mr. Bobwhite and Pretty Mrs. Bobwhite and a dozen little Bobwhites had their home.

When they run along the ground, I'll catch them.

when they fly up in the air you'll catch em and we'll gobble em all up said reddy fox to hooty the owl then he licked his chops and hooty the owl snapped his bill just as if they were tasting tender little bobwhites that very minute it made the willful little breeze shiver to see them pretty soon they started on towards the brown pasture when they were out of sight the willful little breeze jumped up and shook himself then away he sped across the green meadows to the brown pasture and because he could go faster and because he went a shorter way he got there first he had to hunt and hunt to find mrs and mr bobwhite and all the little bobwhites but finally he did find them all with their heads tucked under their wings fast asleep The willful little breeze shook Mr. Bobwhite very gently.

In an instant he was wide awake.

"'Shh,' said the willful little breeze.

"'Ready Fox and Hootie the Owl are coming to the brown pasture "'to gobble up you and Mrs. Bobwhite and all the little Bobwhites.' "'Thank you, little breeze,' said Mr. Bobwhite.

"'I think I'll move my family.' Then he woke Mrs. Bobwhite and all the little Bobwhites." with mr bobwhite in the lead away they all flew to the far side of the brown pasture where they were soon safely hidden under a juniper tree the willful little breeze saw them safely there and when they were nicely hidden hurried back to the place where the bobwhites had been sleeping Reddy Fox was stealing up through the grass very, very softly.

Then the eldest cried, O little brother, I beseech you to try to do something to help us.

So the little brother, by whistling, Bob White, Bob White, changed the brothers into a flock of quail, and thus they flew off.

But the eldest brother was heavy and had to run for some distance before he was able to rise from the ground, and the woman nearly caught him.

They flew for a long way until finally they alighted in a very tall tree on top of a high cliff.

There they were resting in the branches when the woman came up and struck the tree with such force that they nearly dropped off.

This she continued to do until the eldest brother again appealed to the youngest to try to do something.

So the youngest brother began to whistle again, Bob White, Bob White, Bob White, Bob White.

At the fourth whistle there appeared in the west a dark cloud.