100 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
a month or two, and have but one brood. The first 
chicks that I saw in the summer of 1865 were hatched 
in May, and I found others the same year only a few 
days old in August; but by this month almost all the 
birds of the year were well grown, and by September 
were in condition to offer legitimate sport. In Octo- 
ber a few are found not yet ready to be shot; but the 
great majority are as large as the parents, and nearly 
as strong of wing. The season may, therefore, be said 
to begin in October and continue into March; but birds 
should not be pursued later than the middle of this 
month, for although few birds, if any, actually mate 
before April, it is cruel, as well as injudicious, to dis- 
turb them while they are preparing to do so. The be- 
ginning of the pairing season may be known to be 
at hand when certain peculiar cries, different from any 
usually emitted during the fall and winter, are heard. 
“These notes are a sign that the coveys are breaking 
up and mating is about to commence. They are analo- 
gous to the bobwhite of the eastern quail (Ortyx vir- 
ginianus), and are uttered, as with that species, more 
particularly in the breeding season. The note is a loud, 
energetic, two-syllable whistle, delivered in a clear, 
ringing tone. It is difficult to write down intelligently, 
but, once heard, is not likely to be afterward mistaken, 
except for one of the cries of the black-headed gros- 
beak. It sounds to my ears something like the forcible 
pronunciation of the syllables killink, killink, indefinite- 
ly repeated, sometimes in a rising and sometimes with 
a falling intonation. The old cocks, if they can be 
