196 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



breast and belly white, the two latter barred with black ; sides chestnut with 

 black and white margins to feathers ; tail ashy, mottled with buffy. Plumage 

 of adult female : forehead, throat, lores and line over the eye pale ochraceous ; 

 black of upper breast wanting or much restricted. Immature plumage : top of 

 head dull grayish ; rest of head dirty whitish ; breast brownish gray streaked 

 with whitish ; belly white ; back rusty brown with whitish streaks and dark 

 spots. Wing 4.25 to 4.75 ; culmen 0.60 ; tarsus 1.35. 



Geog. Dist. — Eastern United States and southern Ontario, from southern 

 Maine to the South Atlantic and Gulf States ; west to central South Dakota, 

 Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and eastern Texas; of late years gradually 

 extending its range westward along the railroads; introduced in various 

 places in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon and Wash- 

 ington ; resident throughout its range. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; rare, (Johnson). Cumberland; occa- 

 sional, (Brock) ; one in fall of 1901, (Lord) ; a number seen on Cliff Island, 

 Casco Bay, in spring of 1899, these being introduced by Mr. McKenney of 

 Philadelphia, (Swain, J. M. 0. S. 1904, p. 64) ; one seen repeatedly in pasture 

 in rear of my house in July, 1897, (Mead). Franklin; very rare, not seen 

 since 1890, only two seen then, (Swain). Oxford; one was seen several 

 times near East Hebron in the summer of 1896, being observed both on the 

 Oxford and Androscoggin side of the line, (Johnson). Penobscot; some 

 birds were let loose near Hermon in 1894 by George Abbott and these have 

 been reported as breeding for several seasons, but finally when not tended 

 through the winter they all perished, (Knight). Waldo; Dr. Soule saw a 

 male in Unity in September, 1899, (J. M. 0. S. 1902, p. 18). York; in June 

 and July, 1897, one stopped back of the house, and in October one of the 

 boys came to the house and reported that he had flushed a covey in a 

 neighboring field a short time before, (H. P. Libby, Eliot) ; a number were 

 reported as found dead near Kennebunk in the winter of 1904, (J. M. 0. S. 

 1904, p. 63). 



As a bird of Maine the Bob-white is practically confined to 

 the southwestern part of the State, and it seems quite likely 

 that disregarding introduced individuals and their descendants 

 the species is properly native only in the very extreme south- 

 western corner of the State. 



In spring and summer the male mounts to the top of some 

 convenient fence, stone wall, bush or rarely tree and repeatedly 

 calls "bob-white, bob-white" in a clear whistled tone. This 

 call is often varied by certain individuals who say" bob-bob- 

 white" or more rarely "bob-bob-bob- white" while sometimes 

 the call is curtailed to a mere "white" or "whit". 



