Food Habits of Hunter Collected Northern Bobwhite Quail in South Texas
We investigated the feeding habits of wild northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) harvested from the Chaparral Wildlife Management Area in south Texas in October 2004 and January 2005. The contents of 200 crops were dried, sorted, and weighed to the nearest 0.0001 g. Percent dry weight was used to assess differences among season harvested, sex, and age. About 76% of the fall diet consisted of seeds, with 64 plant species represented. Croton (Croton spp.), woolly croton (Croton capitatus), and bristlegrass (Setaria sp.) composed greater than 50% by weight of seeds found in the fall diet....
