14 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



woven into the arch to make it firmer and more impenetrable. 

 F. W. Rapp describes in his notes a more elaborate nest, resembling 

 a marsh wren's nest in construction and shape and very firmly 

 built; it was located in a fence row and was made of oak leaves and 

 June grass, neatly woven together into a ball, flattened on the bot- 

 tom, with a hole on one side. Often the simplest nest is made by 

 entering a thick clump of grass and flattening down a hollow in the 

 center, without disturbing the grass tops at all. 



Major Bendire (1892) quotes Judge John N. Clark as having 

 seen a male bobwhite building a nest, as follows : 



In May, 1887, while on a hill hack of my house one morning, I heard a Quail 

 whistle, but the note, which was continually repeated, had a smothered sound. 

 Tracking the notes to their source, I found a male Bob White building a nest 

 in a little patch of dewberry vines. He was busy carrying in the grasses and 

 weaving a roof, as well as whistling at his work. The dome was very expertly 

 fashioned, and fitted into its place ■without changing the surroundings, so that 

 I believe I would never have observed it. had he kept quiet. 



He also speaks of a nest, found in Louisiana, which "was entirely 

 constructed of pine needles, arched over, and the entrance probably 

 a foot or more from the nest proper." 



Eggs. — The bobwhite ordinarily lays from 12 to 20 eggs, 14 to 16 

 being perhaps the commonest numbers ; as few as 7 or 8 and as many 

 as 30, 32, and even 37 eggs have been found in a nest; but these 

 large numbers are probably the product of more than one female 

 and are deposited in layers. The eggs are mainly subpyriform in 

 shape, sometimes quite pointed or again more rounded. The shell 

 is smooth, with very little gloss, and decidedly hard and tough. 

 The color is dull white or creamy white, rarely "light buff" or 

 "pale ochraceous-buff." They are never spotted, but are usually 

 more or less nest stained. The measurements of 55 eggs in the 

 United States National Museum average 30 by 24 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 32.5 by 24, 31 by 26, and 26 

 by 22.5 millimeters. 



Bobwhites occasionally lay their eggs in other birds' nests. H. J. 

 Giddings (1897) reports the finding of a quail's egg in a towhee's 

 nest ; and the editor in a footnote refers to one laying in a domestic 

 turkey's nest. E. B. Payne (1897) adds that he "found in a mea- 

 dowlark's nest five of the meadowlark's eggs and four of the quail's." 

 Mr. Rapp mentions in his notes a quail's nest shown to him that 

 contained 12 eggs of the quail and 2 of the domestic hen. Herbert 

 L. Stoddard has a photograph of a bantam's egg in a quail's nest. 



Young. — It is generally supposed that at least two broods of 

 young are raised in a season, perhaps three in the southern part of 

 the quail's range, as very early and very late broods are of common 



