Quail

One time Rich Harrow broke a boy's arm by clobbering him with a baseball bat. Another time, he put someone in the hospital with a concussion. "I think about that now," he said. "I can't believe I did it. " Harrow, 18, a juvenile offender from Blackwood in Camden County, picked up one of the thousands of two-week-old pheasants in the low gray brooder house at the Forked River Game Farm and held it gently until it calmed down enough to sit watchfully on his hand. "They're not scared of me. When I walk in the cage, they don't all flutter around," he said.

Pheasant and quail hunters in New Jersey will enjoy the benefits of an expanded stocking program when the state's small-game season opens Saturday. The New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife said that the stocking of the two upland birds on state wildlife management areas will begin Saturday and continue through Jan. 17 - one month longer than the stocking period had been. The agency said that 55,500 pheasants, 5,000 more than last year, will be released statewide.

Most Americans cannot imagine a Thanksgiving dinner without a turkey. Never mind that the big bird takes forever to thaw, forever to cook and the strength of a Schwarzenegger to hoist it from roasting pan to platter. The aggravation doesn't stop there: Once it's on the table, families squabble about who will carve, how to carve, and who gets the most popular parts. While this scene plays out in countless households next week, other home cooks will forgo the traditional turkey travails and treat their families to farm-raised pheasant, squab, guinea hens, quail or Cornish hens.

A bit out of place, a northern bobwhite perched on a tree limb this week at Haverford College. The bird, a variety of quail, is usually a ground-dweller, but this one was startled into the air by a dog.

'Jackets required" is one dining-room edict that's doing a quick fade to endangered status. And while I don't regard my blazer with quite the disdain I have for ties (and the stuffy chokehold they once clamped on upscale dining), it is not a restriction I'm going to miss terribly. After all, the fact that serious cooking is simmering now in more casual venues is one of the great triumphs of America's evolving food scene. Add in a dodgy economy that's put a damper on the high end, and it's no wonder so many gastronomic icons have unbuttoned their double-breasted dress codes to remain relevant.

Poor hungry John! He was taken to a French restaurant and ordered quail for the first time. "It was good," he said, clearly not excited, "but it was real hard to eat. I had to leave a lot of meat on the bones. " "Next time, if there is a next time, use the knife and fork to start, then pick it up with your hand to finish it off," I advised. "You mean you can do that? It's not too crude?" John was astonished. I had to think a second. "If the restaurant is so fancy that they don't want you to eat with your hands - or you might not want to yourself because you're so dressed up - then they should bone the quail for you. That's one of the things fancy restaurants are about.

I KNOW I'M not alone when I say I feel desperate to right the wrongs of my government, but utterly powerless to effect any real change. Now, the revelation that the government is tracking reporters' cell-phone calls sends chills up my spine. Will they trace this letter? Will they get me fired from my job? Maybe I should just fall in line, get a brown shirt. I say NO! Give me liberty or give me death - America needs a hero, not a power-hungry quail hunter. We are in troubling times.

When it comes to single-subject cookbooks, James McNair is becoming a household name. He already has about a dozen such books to his credit, covering foods such as beef, rice, salmon, cheese, corn and squash. This summer, McNair continues the tradition with James McNair's Grill Cookbook (Chronicle Books, $19.95 hardcover, $10.95 paperback), a no-nonsense guide to cooking on the barbecue whether it's fired by ashen charcoal or a propane tank. As with his other subjects, McNair gets right down to business answering the basic questions surrounding the art of outdoor cooking: What's the difference between grilling and barbecuing?

With the opening of the Black Tulip, Bucks County is blessed once again by a superb chef reaching out on his own. Henri Zerbib, formerly of Jean-Pierre's in Newtown, the Inn at Phillips Mill and the Monte Carlo Dining Room in Philadelphia, has taken over the small restaurant along the Delaware River just north of Washington Crossing that formerly housed Olive and, before that, Tosca. With classy French-northern Italian cuisine and a homey setting that includes two real working fireplaces, Tulip offers a superb, albeit expensive, dining experience.

A striking juxtaposition on the front page of yesterday's New York Times: A picture of Pat Nixon, referring to her obituary, directly above a headline reporting a court decision on the redefined role of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Mrs. Clinton, the court held, is a de facto government official - a significant decision because, after health care, President Clinton surely will choose his wife for other high-profile tasks. Hillary Clinton has challenged the concept of the "political wife," an image once personified by Pat Nixon.

Hunters love to shoot them and birders love to watch them, but both groups understand that they can save the bobwhite quail only by working together. The groups came together for a three-day conference to talk about preserving the scarce and secretive game bird and identify other areas of common interest, ranging from fighting invasive species and maintaining healthy forests to managing New Jersey's growing population of black bears. The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs held their first joint conference from Friday through Sunday with a view to identifying common interests and fostering cooperation.

Webb Simpson chipped in from 35 yards in front of the par-4 eighth green for eagle, and then made Tiger Woods shake his head and smile when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C. It led to a 7-under 65 for a share of the lead on Thursday with Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore at Quail Hollow - about one mile from Simpson's home. Woods failed to take advantage of fine weather conditions - about one-quarter of the field shot in the 60s, and half broke par. In his first tournament since a tie for 40th at the Masters - his worst performance as a pro at Augusta - Woods made too many mistakes early and had to one-putt three of the last four greens for a 71. Former PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel is hoping a new putter will help end a nine-year winless drought after a 5-under 67 at the 100th Spanish Open.

Even if it weren't as good as it is, Tom Boswell's How Life Imitates the World Series (1982) would deserve to be a classic just for the title. While many fans love to follow the roots of baseball back to the 19th century, we know it's no more immune to change than other aspects of American life. Which changes constitute progress is a matter of endless debate in sports, politics, music, and almost every other arena. Both life and baseball have their no-brainers, of course.

Every team needs one: a player with multiple skills, willing to do the grunt work but talented enough to help on all phases of the game. For the Clearview girls' lacrosse team, that player is junior Josie Quaile. While scoring isn't her main role, she did get Clearview started with the Pioneers' first goal during Monday's 15-12 win over host Seneca in a game featuring Inquirer top five teams. This was a big win for Clearview, ranked No. 4 in South Jersey by The Inquirer. The Pioneers avenged an earlier 14-9 loss to No. 3 Seneca and, as usual, Quaile performed multiple duties, including taking all the center draws that Clearview controlled for much of the game.

In a shocking meltdown at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, N.C., Tiger Woods matched the worst nine-hole score of his PGA Tour career and wound up with a 7-over-par 79 to miss a cut for only the sixth time in his 14-year career. Billy Mayfair leads after 36 holes, at 8-under 136. Woods, who shot a 43 on the back nine, had three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes. He hit a flop shot that ran over the green and into the water. And he bottomed out on the 15th green with a four-putt double bogey from a little more than 30 feet.

The second step in Tiger Woods' post-scandal career turned out to be a short one. Maybe even a step backward. Woods missed the cut for just the sixth time in his professional career, stumbling to a 7-over-par 79 on Friday in the Quail Hollow Championship that set a handful of personal worsts. Coupled with Thursday's 74, Woods' two-day total of 9-over 153 was his highest as a pro - 1 more than when he missed the cut in the 2006 U.S. Open. That was his first tournament back after his father's death.

'Jackets required" is one dining-room edict that's doing a quick fade to endangered status. And while I don't regard my blazer with quite the disdain I have for ties (and the stuffy chokehold they once clamped on upscale dining), it is not a restriction I'm going to miss terribly. After all, the fact that serious cooking is simmering now in more casual venues is one of the great triumphs of America's evolving food scene. Add in a dodgy economy that's put a damper on the high end, and it's no wonder so many gastronomic icons have unbuttoned their double-breasted dress codes to remain relevant.

From: Gonzalez, John To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil Subject: Andy and Kevin (Costner) Welcome back. So . . . are the Birds sunk now that they're in last place looking up at the other three? Are they sunk because of Westbrook? Meanwhile, the drumbeat to fire Andy Reid is beginning to grow louder. What do you make of that? Fire Andy Reid? I'm not going to get into all that. We'll just see how it goes. What I have to do, what we have to do, is put ourselves in better position to write stories about Andy Reid.

I KNOW I'M not alone when I say I feel desperate to right the wrongs of my government, but utterly powerless to effect any real change. Now, the revelation that the government is tracking reporters' cell-phone calls sends chills up my spine. Will they trace this letter? Will they get me fired from my job? Maybe I should just fall in line, get a brown shirt. I say NO! Give me liberty or give me death - America needs a hero, not a power-hungry quail hunter. We are in troubling times.