226 BIRDS OF BERMUDA. 



Eesident and abundant. It nests twice, layiog two white eggs, -85 

 inch by .G4 inch, in a small, flimsy construction of t\figs and cedar 

 bark, generalh^ ijlaced on the bushy horizontal bough of a cedar tree, 

 from eight feet to twenty feet above the ground. The earliest eggs I 

 saw were on April 4, the latest on June 27; but there are instances of 

 its breeding even in the winter mouths. When disturbed from its nest 

 it falls like a stone to the ground, where it commences to flutter about, 

 as if in the agonies of death, to deceive the intruder. Should the lat- 

 ter be taken in by the good acting of the poor little bird, and attempt 

 to seize her, she shuffles away along the ground just out of reach, farther 

 and farther from her nest, and when she thinks her home is safe, away 

 she dashes into the trees with a joyful " whir-r-r-r" of relief. My terrier 

 used to be completely " sold" in this way, and had many an exciting but 

 fruitless chase after the little doves. The " colored " people have an 

 absurd superstition about this bird, and say that when it utters its 

 "coo-oop" (this is an extraordinarily loud and sonorous call for so small 

 a bird, and can be heard a long distance), it is scratching up the ground 

 for somebody's grave! The habits and mode of feeding of the species 

 are too well known to need description. The male is larger, and has 

 the sides of the neck and the under parts of a much warmer puri)lish 

 red than the female. 



Order GALLIN^l. 



Family PERDICIDiE. 



Sub-family ORTYGIN^. 

 Genus Ortyx, Steph. 



91. Ortyx virginianus, (Linu.) Bit. Virginian Partridge or Quail. 



Tctrao virginianus, Linn., Gm. 

 Ferdix virginiana, Lath., Wils., Bp., And. 



Ortyx virginianus, Jard., Bp., And., Gould, Bd., and late authors. 

 Tetrao marilandicus, Linn., Gm. 

 Perdix marilandica, Lath. 

 ■ Perdix horealis, Vieil. 

 Ortyx horcalis, Steph., Jard., & Selby. 

 Ortyx castaneus, Gould. 



Length, 10.00; wing, 4.70; tail, 2.85. 



Rah. — Eastern United States to the high central plains (Baird). 



This bird (known to English sportsmen as a comparatively recent 

 introduction, under the name of Virginian " Colin") is the gamebird of 

 Bermuda; but whether it originally found its way there from the Amer- 



