LADY BETTY'S HUSBAND 109 



another slipped out of the grass, peered around cautiously, 

 and then ran to their mother and began feeding on the 

 egg. Within a week the brood was perfectly tame, but 

 poor Bob never could satisfy himself that his family was 

 not being wrongly educated. When Lady Betty began 

 sitting on the second clutch of eggs, he led the brood to 

 the orchard and vineyard and before many days they began 

 to be shy. When winter came they followed Bob to the 

 fields and left Betty to enjoy the luxuries of her home 

 alone. 



However, when winter piled snow several feet deep, 

 instead of plunging under the snow after the manner of 

 quail and prairie chickens, and huddling together to keep 

 warm for the night, thus taking a chance of being im- 

 prisoned by the terrible crust that so often forms over the 

 surface, Bob was wise enough to lead his brood to feed at 

 the corn crib and to roost under the cattle shed. 



Toward spring Bob and his flock disappeared. Whether 

 he was killed or whether he chose to leave the vicinity and 

 choose another mate I can not say. For years a flock of 

 quails nested in our orchard and meadow, and were so 

 gentle that they would scarcely fly when discovered and 

 did not hesitate to come to the barnlot and the corn crib 

 for food whenever it was scarce in the fields. 



We have several varieties of the bobwhite quail in 

 America, differing mostly in size and color, but the dif- 

 ferences are so slight that any person who is acquainted 

 with one would recognize the others as of the same family. 



We have several flocks of quail where I am now located. 

 These have been carefully protected for years, and almost 

 every summer there are nests within a hundred yards of 

 my house. In the summer of 1922, a quail nested near 



