204 Phillips, New England Bob-white. LApril 



THE OLD NEW ENGLAND BOB-WHITE. 



BY JOHN C. PHILLIPS. 



Plate XVI. 



It has long been remarked both by ornithologists and sportsmen 

 that the Bob-whites of New England and the north central states 

 were somewhat larger than those of the Mid-Atlantic states. The 

 name Colinus Virginian us was given to the bird by Linnaeus, based 

 entirely on Catesby's material, so that the type locality may be 

 fairly placed at South Carolina, probably near the Georgia line, 

 for Catesby's bird collecting was done on the Savanah River. 

 Catesby's plate represents a distinctly dark bird. 



The question of a northern form is however somewhat compli- 

 cated by the zealous efforts of sportsmen in transplanting Bob- 

 whites from more favored to less favored regions, a process which 

 has resulted in the entire or partial replacement of the native stock 

 over most of its northeastward extension. It is interesting to note 

 here that the subject of quail transplants was not thoroughly aired 

 in sportsman's journals before the late seventies. By 1880 quail 

 were advertised from various southern localities, Tennessee, 

 Indian Territory, Texas, etc., at the extremely low figure of $2.00 a 

 dozen. Between 1880 and 1885 there was great activity along this 

 line and large transplants were effected in southern Vermont and 

 in Massachusetts and probably over the whole of southern New 

 England. Many references to this can be found in the files of 

 ' Eorest and Stream ' between 1876 and 1885. 



It appears however that the traffic in live quail existed a good 

 while before this period for I have a record given to me by Mr. G. 

 A. Peabody, of Danvers, for March, 1870, at which time 184 birds 

 were let out in Essex Co., Mass. They were sent from Greens- 

 boro, N. C, but whether actually trapped there is of course un- 

 certain. Mr. Peabody himself kept a few quail in a pen in the 

 sixties and liberated a few at Danvers, Mass. He is certain that 

 other sportsmen were doing the same thing about this time and he 

 says that the planting was done with the utmost secrecy, which 

 may account for the late appearance of reports of these transplants 

 in the journals of the time. It is a fact that on Cape Cod quail 

 were planted very early, for Mr. Peabody informs me that Mr. 



