VIRGINIAN COLIN. 353 



when, to my great mortification, just as she had begun to sit, 

 I found her dead one morning ; and can no otherwise account 

 for the circumstance than by supposing that something must 

 have frightened her in the night, and caused her to fly up 

 with violence against the wires, which proved fatal to her. 

 Thus ended my hopes of domesticating this elegant little 

 bird, as I have not been able to procure another female. I 

 wished much to breed some more, and tvirn them out if suc- 

 cessful, as they lay many eggs, and are much more easily 

 reared than either Pheasants or Partridges." 



This bird is a general inhabitant of North America, from 

 the northern parts of Canada and Nova Scotia, in which 

 latter place it is said to be migratory, to the extremity of the 

 peninsula of Florida. In the eastern and middle districts, 

 Mr. Audubon says, its common name is that of Quail, but 

 in the western and southern States, it is called a Partridge. 

 Their food, in a wild state, consists of grain, seeds, insects, 

 and berries ; but buckwheat and Indian corn are also parti- 

 cular favourites. The eggs are white ; one inch two lines 

 and a half in length, by one inch in breadth, at the larger 

 end, from whence they taper rapidly to a point. The nest 

 in its form, and the habit of the covey of clustering in a 

 circle, in a wild state, are as already described. Various 

 devices are employed for taking them ; and they are to be 

 seen in the markets of the United States in considerable 

 quantities, both alive and dead. Their flesh is white, tender, 

 and delicate, and is accordingly very much in request. 



The adult male has the beak almost black ; the irides 

 hazel ; upper part of the head dark chestnut brown ; these 

 feathers occasionally elevated, forming a crest ; from the fore- 

 head to the eye, and from thence over and behind the ear- 

 coverts, a band of pure white, below this a band of dark 

 chestnut brown and black, which reaches the sides of the 

 neck, where the brown feathers are white in the middle ; the 



VOL. II. 2 A 



