206 AMERICAN^ GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



tion, it may sometimes be seen falling forward over the 

 bill, and again resting quietly upon the neck. 



The number of feathers composing it are variable — 

 generally from four to six, more rarely ten, and all 

 club-shaped, and curved slightly anteriorly; the webs are 

 loose and bend backward from the shaft, each feather 

 being imbricated, or overlapping, the whole being packed 

 into a single fascicle in this manner. This ornamental 

 a^Dpendage appears at an early age, evidences of it being 

 easily detected when the chicks are but a few days old, 

 and sometimes before the first true feathers of the tail 

 and wing can be noticed. It springs from a single point 

 on the vertex immediately behind the transverse line that 

 crosses the liead from eye to eye, and, at first, consists of 

 a mere tuft of three short brown feathers, without being 

 curved or club-shaped in appearance, or having the inti- 

 mate association with one another which they possess later. 



In their downy state the chicks are very pretty little 

 objects, and, as far as markings are concerned, do not 

 bear the slightest resemblance to their i^arents. The bill 

 is of a bright reddish hue, the upper mandible being the 

 lighter and having more of a pinkish tinge; the feet are 

 flesh-colored; the head is yellowish-brown, with a pure 

 white spot upon the nape, and a few black feathers on 

 the crown, each streaked with white; the upper parts are 

 tawny or brownish-gray, mottled and clouded with black, 

 and conspicuously streaked with long, narrow, penciled, 

 Avhitcd-white lines; the primaries are dusky, marbled 

 with lighter and darker colors on the outer webs; 

 the throat is Avhitish, and all other under parts are marked 

 with narrow, blended, transverse bars of black and yel- 

 lowish-white. The little things in this condition are 

 about three and a half inches long, and may be found up 

 to the last of August, though by this time most of the 

 summer's brood are partly grown. 



The nest of this species is a simple affair, being merely 



