136 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
the under-parts nearly obsolete, especially on the middle of 
the breast and belly. 
Range.—Eastern United States of North America, extending 
north to Massachusetts and Minnesota, west to Dakota and 
Indian Territory, and south to Georgia and other Gulf States. 
Introduced into many of the West Indian Islands and various 
parts of the Old World. 
Habits.—“ This species, one of the most widely distributed 
of our Game-Birds, is better known throughout the Northern 
and Middle States as the Quail, and under the name of 
Partridge, or Virginia Partridge, in the South. 
‘‘ At the present time the Bob-Whites are most abundant in 
the Central and some of the Southern States. They have also 
been successfully introduced in various localities in the 
West. 
“Excepting, perhaps, in its extreme northern range, the 
Bob-Whites are residents, and breed wherever found. They 
are partial to more or less open country. Fields and pastures, 
interspersed with small bodies of woodland, country roads, 
bordered by brush and briar patches, as well as the edges of 
meadow and lowlands, are their favourite abiding places. In 
Southern Louisiana they are very partial to the borders of 
hammock land and open pine-woods. ‘They are never found 
in large packs ; each covey generally keeps to itself, and rarely 
moves far from the place where it was raised. The mating- 
season commences in April, when the coveys, or such portions 
of them remaining, begin to break up, each pair selecting a 
suitable nesting-site. Nidification begins usually about May ; 
in the Southern States somewhat earlier, and in the more 
northern eel of their breeding-range it is often delayed 
until June. 
‘‘These birds are very sociable in disposition, and, when 
not constantly disturbed or shot at, become quite tame, and 
may frequently be seen about dwelling-houses, barns, and in 
