THE LAND BIRDS. 

 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. (ORDER GALLING.) 



Bob-whites, Grouse, etc. (Family Tetraonid^.) • 



This is tlie family of the game birds — the aristocrats 

 of the bird world. They are protectively colored birds, 

 their rich brown, biilf, and black plumage harmoniz- 

 ing with their siirroimdings. Relying on their incon- 

 spicnousness, they avoid danger by hiding rather than by 

 flight, taking wing only as a final resort. Then, with a 

 startling whir-r-/\ they spring into the air, their short, 

 strong wings enabling them to reacli their greatest speed 

 within a short distance of the starting point. 



One of the best-known members of this distinguished 

 family is our familiar Bob-white, the Quail of the Xorth 

 and Partridge of the South. The fact 

 CoJ^a^'^Lus. is, he is neither a true Quail nor Par- 

 tridge, and those who claim that but 

 one of these names is correct may compromise on " Bob- 

 white." 



The Bob-white inhal)its the eastern United States, and 

 wherever found is resident throughout the year. The 

 sexes are much alike in color, the only important differ- 

 ence being in the throat and the line over the eye, which 

 are white in the male and buff in the female. 



Xo bird better illustrates the peculiar potency of 

 bird song, and the hopelessness of attempting to express its 

 charm. If I should describe Bob-white's call to a person 

 who had never heard it, as two ringing notes, do you 

 suppose he would have the faintest conception of what 



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