EASTERN BOB WHITE 21 



a bevy may be found in any one of several feeding places. In some 

 sections they are said to make seasonal migrations from one type 

 of country to another, the journeys being made largely on foot. 

 It is no uncommon occurrence to see a pair in spring, or a flock in fall, 

 running along or across a country road. They make a very smart 

 and trim appearance, with bodies held erect and heads held high, 

 as they run swiftly along on their strong little legs. If too hard 

 pressed they rise, flit gently over a fence or wall, and disappear. 

 One can not help admiring their graceful carriage and their effi- 

 ciency as runners. I believe they prefer to escape from their enemies 

 by running, until too hard pressed; a bird dog will often trail a 

 running bevy for a long distance. 



Their characteristic method of roosting in a close circle, with 

 bodies closely packed and heads facing out, is well known. For 

 this they select some sheltered spot under an evergreen tree or thick 

 bush, or in some dense tangle of briers or underbrush. Sometimes 

 they select a small island in a river or a pond for a roosting place. 

 If not disturbed they will occupy the same spot for many nights 

 in succession, as evidenced by an increasing circle of droppings. 

 Miss Althea R. Sherman told me that she had seen young quail, on 

 the day they were hatched, assume the circular arrangement of a 

 roosting covey, heads outward and tails in the center of the circle. 

 An interesting account of how this circle is formed is given by Dr. 

 Lynds Jones (1903) based on an observation by Robert J. Sim under 

 especially favorable circumstances: 



First one stepped around over the spot selected, then another joined him, 

 the two standing pressed close together, forming the first arc of the circle. 

 Another and another joined themselves to this nucleus, always with heads 

 pointing out, tails touching, until the circle was complete. But two were left 

 out ! One stepped up to the group, made an opening, then crowded himself 

 in, with much ruffling of feathers. One remained outside, with no room any- 

 where to get in. He, too, ran up to the circle of heads, then round and round, 

 trying here and there in vain ; it was a solid mass. Nothing daunted, he 

 nimbly jumped upon the line of backs pressed into a nearly smooth surface, 

 felt here and there for a yielding spot, began wedging himself between two 

 brothers, slipped lower and lower, and finally became one of the bristling 

 heads. In this defensive body against frost and living enemy we may leave 

 them. 



But quail do not always roost on the ground. Mr. Sandys (1904) 

 says that 



it is no uncommon thing to find them regularly roosting in such places as a mass 

 of wild grape vines attached to a fence or a tree, in some thick, bushy tree, in an 

 apple tree near the poultry, sometimes in the fowl-house, barn, or stable, on the 

 lower rails of a weedy fence, on top of logs, and occasionally on the bare rails 

 of a fence. 



74564—32 3 



