BOB WHITE. 23 



by which the young are called together is very low and 

 soft, a kind of twitter. Should the nest be disturbed 

 before the young are hatched, or if the eggs are handled, 

 it is usually deserted by the birds. The chicks are able to 

 fly a little almost as soon as they emerge from the ^^%, 

 and (except in the northern part of the birds' dispersion) 

 when they are a few weeks old the male assumes the en- 

 tire charge of his little family, and the female begins to lay 

 again her second complement of eggs, which, as a rule, 

 does not average as large a number as the first. In the 

 north one brood is generally all that is raised. The 

 chicks are fed by the parents on insects, but, hke all 

 young gallinaceous birds, they are constantly in motion 

 and pick at everything, trying this and that small object 

 with great and ceaseless industry, and they soon begin 

 to swallow seeds, grains of dififerent sorts, and berries. 

 As they grow older they become habituated to the usual 

 food of the adults, which consists of grain of all kinds, 

 especially buckwheat, of which this bird is particularly 

 fond, wild pease, and the seeds of various plants, with 

 berries, when there are any. Quail will also eat grapes, 

 small acorns, and beech-nuts. The parents lead their 

 brood to the stubbles and pick up the grain that had 

 been dropped during the harvest of the previous sum- 

 mer, and return at night to the thickets for conceal- 

 ment and protection. They usually visit the fields in the 

 early morning and again in the afternoon, but late in 

 the year, if the weather is cold, they frequently pass the 

 entire day in the open, huddled together after feeding, 

 basking in the comfortable warmth of the sun's rays. 



The young attain their full growth in the autumn, the 

 period varying according as the spring has been favora- 

 ble or not for incubation, as sometimes the winter 

 Hngers so late as to prevent the nesting season from 



