BIRDS OF NEW YORK 363 



with chestnut and buff down and are very expert in h'ing concealed among 

 the grass and leaves at a warning note from their mother. A second brood 

 of young is sometimes reared but this is certainly not the rule in our latitude. 

 After the nesting season they gather in coveys of 1 2 to 30 birds and remain 

 in company till the following spring. They roost upon the ground, gathered 

 in a small circle, each one facing outward, and, if disturbed, each one springs 

 upward and outward with a startling whirr, all going in different directions, 

 so that the enemy, whether it be cat or fox or owl or man, is so dis- 

 concerted that their escape is assured. After a covey has been flushed 

 they usually alight again within 20 or 30 rods, and its scattered members 

 begin to call to each other, especially if it be late in the afternoon, in a 

 softly whistled qiioi-ree, quoi-rcc, until the famih' is reunited. I have 

 often followed the history of a covey of bobwhites through the winter as 

 told b}' their tracks in the snow. As weeks advance their numbers gradu- 

 ally decrease, and their roosting spot is often changed, to escape from some 

 wandering cat, or hovering owl which has discovered their retreat. Some- 

 times a Cooper hawk, or a Goshawk, remains in the vicinity and takes his 

 toll from the flock whenever they venture from the thick coverts for the 

 food which becomes more and more necessary as the cold and snows of 

 winter oppress them. Those coveys which winter in swamps where there 

 is shelter in the tall grass from the snow and sleet, and where they are less 

 liable to be crusted over, usually survive the best, but they are running 

 the risk of wholesale slat:ghter by minks and weasels if discovered. In a 

 well cultivated country the quail have great difficulty in finding food when 

 the gromid is covered with snow, and I have often seen the bevy reduced 

 to the necessity of feeding on the seeds of milkweed, burdock, and an 

 occasional ragweed. When the ground is uncovered they pick up waste 

 grain of all kinds, wild pease, trefoil, smart weed, sunflower, beech nuts, 

 small acorns and small weed seeds of all kinds. They also partake of 

 wintergreen, viburnum berries, and wild grapes. After reading the history 

 of their dangers and hardships in the snow, one feels less inclined to hunt 

 the Bobwhite for the table, although he surely is as delicious a morsel as 

 anv in the list of our game birds. 



