QUAIL, BOBWHITE, PARTRIDGE 57 
outings came but seldom, he was likely to demand more 
and to follow up the bevies. 
The broods of quail which have kept together all 
through the winter usually break up as warm weather 
approaches, and soon after this comes the mating. This 
takes place earlier in the south, and in New England it 
is often the first of June before the birds are mated and 
the clear whistle of the male is heard. The nest is a 
depression in the ground, lined to some extent with bits 
of grass and weed stems and occasionally with a feather 
or two dropped from the mother’s breast. Rarely the 
parents build over the nest a dome-shaped roof. Cap- 
tain Bendire quotes Judge John M. Clark of Saybrook, 
Conn., who saw a male bobwhite engaged in the work 
of constructing a domed nest. Judge Clark says: 
“Tn May, 1887, while on a hill back of my house one 
morning I heard a quail whistle, but the note, which 
was continually repeated, had a smothered sound. 
Tracking the notes to their source I found a male bob- 
white building a nest in a little patch of dewberry vines. 
He was busy carrying in the grasses and weaving a roof 
as well as whistling at his work. The dome was very 
expertly fashioned and fitted into its place without 
changing the surroundings, so that I believe I would 
never have observed it had he kept quiet.” 
Captain Bendire also says that Mr. G. E. Beyer of 
New Orleans, La., found a nest constructed of pine nee- 
dles, arched over and the entrance probably a foot or 
more from the nest proper. Such constructions are very 
unusual. The only concealment commonly found is that 
