EASTERN BOB WHITE 17 



appear on the back and scapulars are black on the inner web, broadly 

 tipped with white, and mottled with brown (" russet " to " tawny") 

 and dusky on the outer web, with white shaft stripes, broadening 

 at the tip ; as these feathers grow out longer the black appears only 

 as a large subterminal spot. In full juvenal plumage the crown is 

 centrally dusky, laterally gray (" hair brown " to " drab "), mottled 

 or variegated with black; the throat is white in the male and buffy 

 white in the female ; the breast and flanks are " drab " to " light 

 drab," with whitish shaft streaks; the belly is paler or white; the 

 tail is gray, mottled with white ; and the primaries are mottled with 

 pale buff on the edges. 



Even before the juvenal plumage is fully acquired the postjuvenal 

 molt into the first winter plumage begins. This molt is complete 

 except for the outer pair of primaries on each wing, which are 

 retained all through the first year; and it takes place at any time 

 from late in summer until November, depending on the time at which 

 the young were hatched. The first winter plumage is scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from that of the adult, and the sexes are widely differ- 

 entiated ; but the colors above are duller with paler edgings, and the 

 underparts are more buffy and somewhat less barred. Young birds 

 can be distinguished from adults all through the first winter and 

 spring by the outer pair of primaries, the first and second, on each 

 wing, which are still juvenal (pointed). 



The first prenuptial molt, as well as all subsequent prenuptial 

 molts, amounts to the renewal of only a few feathers about the 

 head and throat. The first postnuptial molt, the following summer 

 and fall, chiefly in September, is complete and produces the adult 

 winter plumage. Adults then continue to have similar molts each 

 year, a very limited head molt in spring and a complete postnuptial 

 molt from August to October. The slight seasonal difference between 

 spring and fall plumages is mainly due to wear and fading. 



Among the thousands of quail shot and the large series preserved 

 in collections, some odd types of plumage are to be found, such as 

 males with black or buff throats, very dark or melanistic types, others 

 in which the browns are replaced with buff or the buffs with white, 

 producing a pallid type; partial albinos are occasionally seen and 

 very rarely one that is wholly pure white. Erythrism is reported 

 and illustrated by Stoddard (1931). 



Food. — Quail are very regular in their feeding habits. Every 

 sportsman knows this and takes advantage of it, for he knows when 

 and where to look for them. They do not leave their roosting place 

 very early in the morning, as they prefer to wait until the rising sun 

 has, at least partially, dried the dew off the grass ; in winter or late 

 in fall, when every blade of grass, twig, or spray of vegetation is 



