PERDTCID.E — THE PARTRIDGES. 471 



unites with the first, and, if unmolested, they keep together until the spring, 

 under the guidance of the parents. In the mating-season they usually sepa- 

 rate into pairs, though occasionally a male will associate with more than a 

 single female, in which case their joint product is united in the same nest. 

 In the spring of 1850 I found one of the nests which contained no less than 

 thirty-two eggs. The nest was placed on the side of a hill, in an open pas- 

 ture, within a few rods of the main street, and in the midst of the principal 

 village in Hingham. It was comparatively small, composed of coarse stems 

 of grass, arched at the top, with the entrance on one side, and the eggs 

 were promiscuously piled one upon another. The latter were removed for 

 the purpose of ascertaining the exact number, but very carefully replaced ; 

 yet the parent birds deserted them, as they are said always to do if their 

 eggs are handled. An attempt was made to hatch the eggs under a common 

 Hen, but it proved unsuccessful. As the nest was in so exposed a place, it 

 is quite possible that its abandonment by the parent may have been occa- 

 sioned by other causes than our touching the eggs. 



These birds are always found in grounds. more or less open, preferring those 

 in which there is abundance of low trees and clusters of slirubs in which 

 they can shelter themselves, on the edges of woods, where they occasionally 

 hide or roost on low branches near the ground. Their favorite food is seeds 

 of various plants, and berries ; and in the fall of the year, or late in summer, 

 they feed largely on grasshoppers, and on this food they thrive and become 

 very fat. They are also very fond of buckwheat, corn, and all the kinds of 

 grain. In confinement they eat beechnuts, acorns, and other kinds of nuts, if 

 broken for them. In villages where they are not molested they become very 

 tame, freely approach the barnyards to feed with the poultry, and will even 

 come at the call of their friends and pick up food thrown to them. This is 

 especially noticeable in Florida, where the representatives of the small race 

 of the species found there are very numerous and remarkably confiding. 



The Quail is esteemed a great delicacy as an article of food, and is sought 

 for the market by means of traps, nets, and various kinds of snares, and by 

 sportsmen with the gun and dogs. It is naturally unsuspicious, is easily 

 approached, and in the thickly settled parts of the country its ranks are al- 

 ready greatly thinned. It is gradually disappearing from New England, and 

 is now very rare in large tracts where it was once quite abundant. In some 

 localities they have only been retained by the importations of others from a 

 distance. They are of gentle disposition, are apparently much attaclied to 

 each other both in the conjugal and in the parental relations, and always 

 keep closely together in the small flocks associating together. In the fall 

 the old birds remain with their offspring of the season, and direct the move- 

 ments of their family. They always keep close together, by day as well 

 as by night, roost on the ground under the shelter of bushes in a circle, their 

 bodies closely impacted, and their heads forming the exterior. This con- 

 duces alike to their safety and to their warmth. 



