THE FLORIDA BOB WHITE. 



n^HIS is a small, dark race of the common Bob White, 

 and is found throughout Florida, save possibly the 

 extreme southern portions. It was formerly very abun- 

 dant, and is still in some parts of the State, but frorp 

 man's persecutions and indiscriminate slaughter the birds 

 have, in many districts, been greatly reduced in numbers. 

 It is a very tame and confiding little creature and, Hke 

 its Northern relative, prefers to live in the vicinity of 

 man's habitations, and rarely leaves the locality in which 

 it was hatched. It keeps to the open woods or cultivated 

 grounds in the neighborhood of clumps of bushes or 

 thickets of various sorts, into which it can escape from 

 its pursuers. The nesting season in some localities be- 

 gins very early, sometimes by the middle of February, 

 but probably April is the month when incubation gen- 

 erally commences, and young birds have been met with 

 early in July. Two broods are raised in a season, and 

 the nest is placed in some retired spot hidden by a pal- 

 metto or by thick grass and weeds. 



Their habits are the same as those of the Northern 

 bird, and they lie well before the dog, and have all the 

 game qualities of our familiar Bob White. The average 

 number of eggs is not so large as that found in the nests 

 of their relative, and from ten to fourteen may be con- 

 sidered the extremes, though sometimes many more 

 than the maximum given are obtained. They resemble 

 in every respect those of Bob White. 



On account of the number of broods each pair will 



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