AMERICAN PARTRIDGE, OR QUAIL. 653 



they followed night and morning from the pasture, and 

 when the cattle were housed for the winter our little 

 Partridges took up their humble abode in the stable. 

 But even these, so docile, and separated from all their 

 race, on the return of spring, obeyed the instinct of na- 

 ture, and wandered away to their congenial woods and 

 thickets. It is probable at times, as asserted by observers, 

 that our Quails, like some other birds, lay their eggs in 

 the nests of each other ; a fact which would only be in 

 accordance with their usual friendship and mutual famil- 

 iarity. 



The American Quail, according to Wilson, has like- 

 wise, in turn, been employed to hatch the eggs of the 

 domestic hen, which she brought out, defended, and fed 

 as her own offspring. She even succeeded in imparting 

 to them a portion of her own instinct, to such a degree, 

 that when alarmed, they hid in the grass, and ran timidly 

 from sight like so many young Partridges, exhibiting all 

 the wildness of unreclaimed birds. A flock of these 

 duails, however attentively fed, and confined, always 

 exhibit a great degree of fear and shyness ; their at- 

 tachments remaining truly natural, they appear only to 

 recognise the company of each other. But a solitary indi- 

 vidual becomes friendly and familiar to the hand that 

 feeds it, and, for want of more congenial society, forms a 

 similar attachment to its keeper. In the month of Sep- 

 tember, the little brood, now nearly full grown, assemble 

 in families ; and at this period, as well as in the spring 

 and early part of summer, the clear, whistling call of the 

 male is often heard. This well known note, is very sim- 

 ilar to the pronunciation of the words, '' '5o6 tvhite,''^ to 

 which is often added a suppressed introductory whistle. 

 While seated, perhaps on a fence-rail, or the low limb of 

 an orchard tree, this peculiar note, sometimes interpreted 

 55* 



