BIRDS OF AMERICA 



BOB-WHITE 



Colinus virginianus virginianus (Linncrus) 



A. O. U. Number 289 See Color Plate 40 



Other Names. — Quail; Bob-white Quail; Partridge; 

 Virginia Partridge. 



General Description. — Length, 10 inches. Plumage 

 above, chestnut, black, ashy, and tawny, mixed ; below, 

 different shades of brown with black marks. Feathers 

 of crown, somewhat erectile. Found in open field. 



Color. — Adult Male: Forehead, lores, line over eye 

 extending to back of head, chin, and throat, white; the 

 line from gape, below eye, and side of head deep dusky; 

 crown, back of head, neck all around, and upper parts 

 of breast, reddish-brown ; upper parts, a mi.xture of 

 chestnut, black, ashy, and tawny, this last color edging 

 feathers of shoulder and inner secondaries, forming a 

 continuous line when wing is closed ; under parts, white 

 tinged with warm brown on chest, each feather with 

 several narrow V-shaped spots of black, sides of body, 

 flank, and wing-coverts, brownish-red, abdomen marked 

 more or less with double crescentic black bars ; upper 

 part of breast outlining white throat, deep dusky 



brown ; primaries, brown ; tail, ash ; bill, dusky horn 

 almost black; iris, deep brown. Adult Female: 

 Differs from male in having the throat buff instead of 

 white, less black on breast and coloration less intense, 

 the reddish tints of male being supplanted by a dull 

 pinkish hue; black crescents of under parts, narrower; 

 bill, horn color. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On the ground under old 

 rail fences, sheltered by a thick growth of grass or 

 small bushes, or at the foot of stumps; constructed of 

 dry grasses, leaves, or weed stalks. Eggs: 12 to 18, 

 pure white. 



Distribution. — • Eastern North America from South 

 Dakota, southern Minnesota, southern Ontario, and 

 southwestern Maine south to eastern and northern 

 Texas, the Gulf coast, and northern Florida west to 

 eastern Colorado ; introduced in central Colorado, New 

 Mexico, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, and Wash- 

 ington. 



The call of Bob-white is one of the cheeriest 

 sounds in nature. Nearby, it commands atten- 

 tion ; distant, it harmonizes with other sotinds of 

 summer, yet never palls upon the ear. It names 

 the bird. Northerners call him Quail ; South- 

 erners. Partridge ; but he has named himself 



r,,urtrsy i.f lliitint; I'ulj. Co. 



BOB- WHITE 

 She was undisturbed by the camera 



and ornithologists have decided that he is the 

 prior authority. His cry is interrogatory. It is 

 pleasing, heartening, delightful. Farmers trans- 

 late it as more zvet, saying that it foretells rain. 

 And this prophecy is always welcome in the 

 drouth of summer. 



Everything about the bird is so attractive that 

 men have always loved him — and hunted him. 

 Perhaps there is no other wild bird to which the 



American people are more indebted. He de- 

 lights in the farm ; is the friend and companion 

 of man ; a destroyer of weeds and pernicious 

 insects ; a close-lying, swift-flying game bird ; and, 

 last as well as least, is the joy of the epicure. 

 From the standpoint of the greatest good to the 

 greatest number he is supreme ; his wide range 

 and easy accessibility make him always immedi- 

 ately available. He is the bird for field trials 

 where staunch dogs show their training. Annti- 

 ally each autumn something like 400,000 sports- 

 men go out from the cities in this country to hunt 

 Bob-white. In many cases the rental of the 

 privilege of shooting more than pays the taxes 

 on the farm. Thus Bob-white pays indirectly 

 inost of the taxes in many school districts and 

 so settles for the education of the children on 

 the farms. 



After the spring rains, when the warm south 

 winds give promise of coming summer, the birds 

 are mating and the call of the " Quail " is heard 

 on all sicfes. They are good-natured, afTectionate 

 birds, but now during the rivalries of the mating 

 season the males become quarrelsome and some- 

 times fight fiercely. The mating over, the happy 

 ]iairs settle down, each to its allotted place. 

 Rarely two females use the same nest and there 

 is some indication of polygamy in such cases. 

 The male, however, is very attentive to his mate, 

 is a good provider, and has been known to assume 

 the entire charge of the brood upon the death of 

 the female, brooding, feeding, and protecting 

 them at all times like the fondest mother. 



