all 
394 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
black; the forepart of back, the side of the breast and in front just below the black 
collar, of a dull pinkish-red; the sides of body and wing coverts brownish-red; the 
latter almost uniform, without indication of mottling; scapulars and upper tertials 
coarsely blotched with black, and edged internally with brownish-yellow; top of 
head reddish; the lower part of neck, except anteriorly, streaked with white and 
black; primary quills unspotted brown; tail ash. 
Female with the white markings of the head replaced by brownish-yellow; the 
black wanting. 
This species is subject to considerable variations. both of size and color, the more 
northern being considerably the larger; southern specimens are darker, with 
n:ore black about the head, on the wings, and the middle of the back; there is also 
a more appreciable mottling on the wings, and the feathers of the back are streaked 
with black. 
Length, ten inches; wing, four and seventy one-hundredths inches; tail, two and 
eighty-five one-hundredths inches. 
HIS beautiful bird, very improperly called the Quail, is 
not very common in any part of New England north 
of Massachusetts; and in that State it is rapidly becoming 
rare, both in consequence of the destructive pertinacity 
with which it is followed by all sportsmen, and the abomi- 
nable practice of snaring and netting it, that is growing too 
common. In Massachusetts and the other southern New- 
England States, it is partially migratory in the fall; repair- 
ing to the neighborhood of the seacoast, where it remains 
two or three weeks: it returns to the fields and swamps, by 
the first fall of snow, where it passes the winter. Its habits 
are pretty well known in that section; but, that my 
readers may know about it elsewhere, I give the very inter- 
esting description by Wilson. He says, — 
“They are most numerous in the vicinity of well-cultivated 
plantations, where grain is in plenty. They, however, occasionally 
seek shelter in the woods, perching on the branches, or secreting 
themselves among the brushwood; but are found most usually in 
open fields, or along fences sheltered by thickets of briers. Where 
they are not too much persecuted by the sportsmen, they become 
almost half domesticated ; approach the barn, particularly in winter, 
and sometimes, in that severe season, mix with the poultry to glean 
up a subsistence. They remain with us the whole year, and often 
suffer extremely by long, hard winters and deep snows. At such 
