Quail Preference for Seed of Farm Crops

Abstract

Food habits analyses show what wild animals consume, and for that reason have an important place in the field of wildlife research. Such analyses, however, fail to distinguish between the food preferences of the species concerned and the relative availability of desired foods, two factors which determine what is actually found in an animal's crop or stomach.. The present investigation was concerned chiefly with food preferences of the bobwhite quail, Colinus virginianus. Preferences were determined by observing and analyzing the reactions of penned bobwhite quail to the seed of a wide variety of farm crops and recognized quail foods. Foods selected for experimentation were thought to be primarily adapted for planting in the north-central portion of Florida, but also in the general southeastern region of the United States. Undoubtedly, differences in palatability of the various foods largely explain the ratings of preference that were observed, but the present study also analyzed other factors that had an influence upon preferences. These factors included apparent olfactory perception, effect of seed placement during the various feeding experiments, and habit. Still another phase of this investigation was concerned with the competition of other kinds of animals for quail foods and the possible effect of such competition on the availability of those foods. One animal to which particular attention was devoted was the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius (Latreille). Native rodents, principally the cotton rat, Sigmodon hispidus hispidus Say and Ord, were also studied in this respect. A final phase of this investigation was concerned with observing the effects of feeding unlimited amounts of certain seeds to the birds for protracted periods of time.