Bob White varies in color, in size, and in quality as a game bird in various sections of the United States, West Indies, Mexico, and Central America. As the ruffed grouse becomes less common and more difficult to get, on account of the disappearance of our forests, Bob White is assuming more and more the rank of the leading American game bird. For that reason the game law is strict, and sportsmen are much concerned in propagating the species. The effect of this is to change somewhat the qualities that have characterized Bob White in different localities. For example, the robust, hardy, and large-sized Bob White that was known in the New England States in past years is now extinct, and it has been replaced by a somewhat less sturdy type of bird introduced from Kansas and the Carolinas. These birds, not accustomed to the rigorous winter of the northern states, have a hard time when the weather is bitterly cold. In a severe winter in New England poor little “planted” Bob White is, in the most pathetic sense of the phrase of the day, “up against it.” He has to be sheltered and fed largely by his human friends. Some day, no doubt, as the natural law of survival works it out, Bob White will grow hardy and self-sustaining under the severest conditions in the northern states. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 34, SERIAL No. 34 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: WILD TURKEY COPYRIGHTED BY LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, 1906] _GAME BIRDS OF AMERICA_ _Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)_ THREE Imagine an old gobbler leading his hens about the forest near some Puritan settlement. They stretch their long necks here and there over the leaves, picking up acorns and chestnuts, when suddenly one finds a grain of corn, and another, and another, leading off in a straight line. Away go the turkeys scrambling over one another, and the greedy gobbler makes sure of his share. The train of corn leads along through dense underbrush, turns sharp to the left and under an old log. Without noticing what is beyond, the turkeys go down through a trench, their heads to the ground, and come up on the other side of the log, where there is more grain spread all round. After a few minutes the corn is eaten, and the gobbler looks around for a hole to get out by. He finds that there are four dark walls surrounding his flock, and overhead are logs with space enough between to let in the light, but not to let out the turkeys. They walk around craning their necks up at the light; for they have bad memories, and depend on sharp eyesight to get them out of trouble. The trench goes down under the log, and therefore no light comes through it--a circumstance that the turkey does not think about. So the poor gobbler and all his flock stay in the trap, because they do not know enough to go out the opening they came in by.