Sustaining Values of Emergency Foods for Bobwhites

Abstract

Sustaining values of foods that might be useful to bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) under emergency conditions were tested by feeding penned bobwhites single foods during fall and winter and observing their survival and condition. In the pilot study, 11 foods were tested for 38 days; 132 bobwhites of mixed sex and age-groups were employed. In the principal study, 6 of these foods were tested for 14 days on 84 young birds of both sexes. On the basis of food consumption, weight performance, depot fat, lipid levels, and other physiological measures, pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), sassafras (Sassafras albidum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), and milo (Sorgum vulgare) had the highest sustaining values among the foods tested. Their values exceeded those of such well- known winter staples for bobwhites as corn (Zea mays) and Korean lespedeza (Lespedeza stipulacea). Sericea (Lespedeza cuneata), rose (Rosa multiflora) hips, and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) ranked lowest. The purpose of this study was to com- pare the sustaining values of certain native and cultivated bobwhite foods that might be useful under emergency conditions. Performance of bobwhites sustained on these foods was compared with those liv- ing on foods known to be staples for quail. Food consumption, weight performance, and several measures of the physiological condition of the birds were used as indices to the sustaining value of each food tested. These data were supplemented by chem- ical analyses of the foods. The study was similar in some respects to those of Erring- ton (1931, 1937) and Williamson (1955, 1956, 1957). Our study was prompted by Stanford's discovery that many Missouri bobwhites fared poorly on the emergency foods avail- able to them during a prolonged period of snow cover in the winter of 1959-60. Some bobwhites were found starving, although their crops were full of sericea seeds. This paper is a joint contribution from