3l8 REPURT t>F THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



sex, the male loudly proclaims to all passers-by tidings of his newly-found treasure, 

 "The Greatest Thing in the World — Love." 



Standing erect, majestic, proud, haughty, defiant, he calls, in a loud, clear voice from 

 the top of the rail fence, " Bob White," " Ah ! Hob White," and the country boys know 

 the quails are mating. But ah ! what different words are those sounds to the com- 

 panion of his choice for the year, as she with due feminine modesty quietly searches 

 under the black bushes nearby for a suitable place to deposit her life's treasures and 

 rear her young safe from the molestation of skunk, weasel, fox, raccoon, cat or dog, or 

 the prying boy, or the thoughtless and ignorant drivers of the cruel reaper. 



According to latitude the quail nests from the first of March to the first of June. 

 In the State of New York they generally nest during the month of May. In the early 

 part of this month the males fight like veritable little furies for the possession of the 

 females, and the choice having been made with a great deal of chattering, bowing and 

 strutting, the pair quietly steal away through the tangles of grass and bushes on a 

 house-hunting expedition. Having apparently settled upon a general location for 

 nesting, they next select a spot where there is a natural depression in the ground, in 

 some slightly protected place, as under tall grass, weeds, low bushes or brushwood, 

 and after clearing out the depression, or making a shallow excavation for themselves, 

 they proceed to fill it with blades of grass and a small quantity of other suitable lining 

 material. Sometimes the nest is laboriously and snugly arched over. The male often 

 takes part in the nest construction as well as sometimes in the incubation of the eggs, 

 and he often carries food to the female while she is incubating. From fourteen to 

 thirty pointed white eggs are laid, and after about twenty-four days the young come 

 forth and run about almost immediately. In fact they have been seen running from 

 the nest with pieces of the shell still clinging to their backs. 



They are fed on insects, and soon learn that their lives depend upon their own 

 sharp eyes and swift movements. Contrary to the habits of many birds, but in 

 accordance with others, the male helps to feed the young, and the family remains 

 together as a flock or covey until spring, when they mate and the pairs separate from 

 the flock to begin the pleasures and duties of summer anew. 



Where there are two broods the male even takes the babies of the first brood off" 

 into the fields and cares for them until he is joined by his mate with the second family. 



Although the food of the young is mostly insects, they gradually add berries, other 

 fruits, and nuts to their articles of diet as they grow older until their menu finally 

 includes buckwheat, wheat, rye, oats and corn (most of the cereals being gleaned from 

 the fields after harvest), locust-seeds, wild pease, tick-trefoil {Dcsiiioiiiiiiii). smart 

 weeds {Polvgonitiii), sunflowers [Hcliaiitlnis), bitter weed {Arti-inisia), partridge berry 

 (il//A //(■//(?), wintergreen (C/(7«//'/^iv7rt), nanny berries {I'il'iiniiiiii), wild grapes {]'itis). 



