200 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



like whistling of the bobwhite to his mates in 

 the clover field beyond the lane. I say of the 

 quail what Lowell has said of the dandelion : 



My childhood's earliest thoughts are liuked with thee. 



The habits of the quails are well known to 

 most people w^ho live in the country, for these 

 birds often start up in small bevies from the 

 grass and in the woods. At such times the 

 first intimation you usually have of their pres- 

 ence is the loud whir of their wings as they 

 start from the ground and dart away with a 

 swiftness that the eye can scarcely follow. It 

 is mostly in the fall and winter that they move 

 about in flocks, feeding on such seeds as they 

 can find on the gi'ound ; and then when spring 

 comes they divide into couples and begin to 

 make their nests and rear their young. 



I have found their nests in wheat fields, in 

 roughly kept new grounds, among the briers in 

 old, neglected pastures, in the deep grass along 

 a rail fence, and beneath a pile of rails at the 

 border of the woods. Some writers say that 

 the nest is quite neatly roofed over, having an 

 entrance at the side, somewhat like the nest of 

 the oven bird, and I do not dispute their testi- 

 mony. But I have never found such a nest, 

 and will say that the description corresponds 



