The OoLOGiST. 



VOL. XV. NO. 3. 



ALBION, N. Y., MARCH, 1898. 



Whole No. 142- 



Bobwhite. 



{Colinus Virginianus.) 



This species, the celebrated gamebird 

 of the Eastern United Stutes, is common 

 in suitable localities. The clover, 

 wheat and sage fields together with 

 pastures and woods are where they 

 will be found. The greater part of the 

 year the Quail is found in coveys pair- 

 ing in early spring some time in April; 

 then each pair selects a particular lo- 

 cality whei'e they remain to nest dur- 

 ing the summer. 



During the mating season the well 

 known call of the male can be heard at 

 intervals in the morning and late in the 

 evening throughout the woods. By im- 

 itating the call he will come running 

 through the grass, stopping every few 

 yards to listen or to look in all direc- 

 tions to see if there is an enemy near, 

 but if you have been perfectly quiet he 

 will keep coming nearer until he finds 

 out that he has been deceived. When 

 you have him near, careful study will 

 always bo rewarded by finding out 

 something new and interesting con- 

 cerning his habits, although a some- 

 what common bird. It pays to watch 

 even the commonest of our birds for 

 we too often get the idea that if a bird 

 is found in abundance it has no pecul- 

 iar or unknown habit; the trouble lies 

 in our not observing carefully. 



Their flight is one of the most mark- 

 ed characteristics concerning them. 

 When flushed it flies or rather sails 

 swiftly in an almost straight line, which 

 is one reason for its being prized so 

 much by sportsmen. Sometimes it 

 loses its life by attempting to cross a 

 river, their strength giving out before 

 the opposite shore is reached. 



Often after having been flushed sev- 



eral times they will alight in trees. 

 Remember very well the first time I 

 ever found any perched in trees. I 

 was out gunning and had flushed a 

 covey, but not being experienced in 

 shooting, banged away in vain; the 

 birds scaring me when they fiew up al- 

 most as much as I frightened them 

 with my gun, but I managed to see 

 them as they sailed around a pine 

 thicket. Thinking that I would re- 

 deem myself next shot, hurried on, but 

 when I reached the place my dog 

 searched everywhere without any re- 

 sult. Soon he began barking up into a 

 thick pine and upon close investigation 

 found the tree almost full of Bobwhites 

 but as they had so cleverly hid them- 

 selves left them undisturbed. 



This noted bird is about extinct in 

 some localities and fast becoming so 

 in others on account of the persecution 

 it suffers. Some say that they pull 

 down the heads of wheat and eat the 

 grain. That may be true, but suppose 

 it is, is that any comparison to the 

 good these birds do? I say, "No," and 

 if the stomach of one is examined ev- 

 eryone else will say the same. Their 

 food consists mainly of seeds of various 

 kinds, berries, bugs and stray grain. 

 In the winter when these are covered 

 by the snow, they will be found hud- 

 dled around trees, eating seeds of 

 weeds and frequently will go into barn- 

 yards to feed with the domestic fowls. 

 During the severe winters in 1893 and 

 1894 hundreds of Bobwhites perished 

 because the bugs were killed by the 

 cold and the seeds were covered by 

 the snow, so that the poor birds were 

 left to starve and freeze to death. 



At this time they were very tame and 

 and some heartless hunters took ad- 

 vantage of their emaciated condition 



