Document Type

Research

Abstract

The cheery whistle of the male bob-white, Colinus v. virgmzanus L., is a familiar and welcome sign of spring wherever this species occurs. Game biologists have made practical use of the bob-white's whistle by using roadside counts of whistling bob-whites as a means of estimating changes in relative abundance from year to year (Bennitt, 1951) . As devised by Bennitt for use in Missouri, the roadside whistle counts required the services of a large number of observers. Each obsnver was assigned a predetermined "station" consisting of about thirty miles of all-weather road within a major soil type. Counts were made during the first hour after sunrise on any two calm, dry days between July 13-19. The first observation was made at the starting point at sunrise. The observer recorded the number of bob-whites heard whistling. Thereafter the observer stopped at one-mile intervals along his assigned route during the hour, counting the whistling birds at each stop. At the beginning and end of the hour he recorded air temperature, cloudiness, and wind velocity, and at each stop he recorded type of road, time, and mileage.

Publication Date

1956

Journal Title

Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

Issue

First Page

639

Last Page

651

Copyright

Language

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Elder, James B. (1956) "Analysis of Whistling Patterns in the Eastern Bob-White, Colinus v. virginianus L.," Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science, 63(1), 639-651.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol63/iss1/72

Download

Comments?

COinS

Analysis of Whistling Patterns in the Eastern Bob-White, Colinus v. virginianus L.

Authors