106 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



mother had deserted the family save for a short time 

 occasionally, but the father never led them far from 

 the new nest and every night they roosted close by the 

 mother and her treasures. 



The second family had their first feed on the chinch 

 bugs that were just now running from the wheat into the 

 corn. The mother would gather her family around a 

 cornstalk on which there were dozens of chinch bugs, then 

 backing off a few feet, she would fly against this corn- 

 stalk with sufficient force to jar the bugs to the ground. 

 Before they could take flight or crawl back on the stalk 

 the baby quails had fed in abundance. Thus the wild 

 mother showed her wisdom again. Had these babies 

 hatched a few days sooner, the chinch bugs would 

 have been in the wheat field and therefore difficult to 

 secure. Within a week the parents had united their flocks. 

 Again it was only a few days till the mother was slipping 

 away every day, leaving to her husband the entire re- 

 sponsibility of both broods. When the third brood was 

 ten days old again the family united, and ran together 

 until all were mature. 



As spring drew nigh, the flock scattered in all directions, 

 possibly a provision of nature against close inbreeding. 

 But Bob chanced to return to the old home. 



Quails were whistling their "Bob-white" on every bright 

 morning and the spirit of spring was everywhere. Bob 

 whistled his loudest and best, stopping to listen each time 

 for an answering call from the mate he hoped to find. 

 One day the boy took it into his head to whistle "Bob-white" 

 in reply, so every time Bob whistled he received an an- 

 swering call from the dooryard. Fearing lest his fancied 

 rival might be more successful in finding the mate he felt 



