ORTYX VIRGINIANA: THE QUAIL, OR BOB-WHITE. 161 



without any markings. Bob-white's are of the latter 

 character. They are broad and blunt at one end and 

 sharp at the other, and measure about 1.25 by i.oo. 

 The nest is a mere depression in the ground, lined with 

 a little grass or a few leaves, and usually hidden beneath 

 the friendly shelter of overgrowing grass weeds or 

 bushes not seldom a heap of brushwood. The num- 

 ber of eggs laid is wholly indeterminate. A female may 

 be found incubating eight or ten only ; while in other 

 cases, in which very likely more than one parent con- 

 tributes some of the number, as many as two dozen have 

 been found together. 



Among the perennial conundrums propounded by 

 persons short-sighted in respect to the laws of nature is 

 one which touches the present bird. Quite a literature 

 sprang up recently in the sporting papers in answer to 

 the question, " Can Quail withhold their scent ? " No 

 one doubts that under some circumstances the best dog 

 is unable to find a Quail by following his nose, or to 

 detect its presence by the sense of smell. Some sup- 

 pose this due to causes outside the bird, and wholly in- 

 dependent of the bird's intentions or actions, such as 

 the state of the atmosphere. Others maintain that the 

 bird can consciously, that is, intentionally and design- 

 edly, prevent the escape of its effluvium, and thus secure 

 immunity from pursuit. The former explanation seems 

 to be quite beside the point, and the latter to be absurd. 



No act of conscious volition that is, the operation 

 of will-power, could effect such a result, even supposing 

 a Quail to know when it would be of advantage to retain 

 its effluvium, and to try to do so which supposition is 

 itself unreasonable. The true explanation would seem 

 to be that certain actions of the bird, instinctively ac- 



