GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 115 



KEY TO ADULT FEMALE COLINUS. 



1. Under parts narrowly barred with black . . . virginianus, p. 115. 

 1'. Under parts broadly barred with black. 



2. Belly more heavily barred, cinnamon chest band usually more 



marked ridgwayi, p. 116. 



2'. Belly less heavily barred ; cinnamon chest band usually less marked. 



texanus. p. 116. 



289. Colinus virginianus (Linn.). BOB-WHITE. 



Adult male. Line through eye white ; throat white, bordered below 

 by black ; rest of under parts buffy or brown- 

 ish reddish brown on sides narrowly barred 

 with black ; upper parts reddish brown and 

 black ; scapulars, tertials, and lower back strik- 

 ingly blotched with black. Adult female : like Fi &- 191 - 

 male, but black of head replaced by brown, and white by buffy. Young : 

 upper parts rusty, more or less spotted with black, and feathers with white 

 shaft streaks widening at tip ; breast grayish or brownish, streaked with 

 white ; throat and belly whitish. Length : 9.50-10.75, wing 4.55, tail 2.70, 

 bill .59. 



Distribution. Resident in Transition and Upper Sonoran zones in east- 

 ern United States, and spreading from Nebraska and Texas westward ; 

 also since introduction, in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, California, 

 Oregon, and Washington. 



Nest. A saucer-shaped excavation in the ground, sometimes domed, 

 but usually sheltered by bushes or weeds, and lined with dry grass or stub- 

 ble. Eggs : 12 to 18, dull white. 



Food. Insects, grain, weed seed, beechnuts, and wild berries. 



No picture of early spring among the farms, with the fields of dry 

 cornstalks and the smoky, budding wood-lots, marked off by rail 

 fences, is complete without an occasional stiff whirr of wings in the 

 brush, a scudding of quick feet in the rustling leaves, and the distant 

 clear whistle, bob-white. 



The quail are in pairs now, and unless near enough together for 

 their low conversational quit, quirk, queet, are sure to be calling back 

 and forth in loud whistles from the fence tops, the stone piles, or 

 low branches of trees. A little later the calling is hushed and the 

 male may be seen hurrying about alone, or the two running mys- 

 teriously under the bushes ; and still later there is a flock of little 

 brown fluffy chicks to be led and guarded. By themselves they 

 are a quiet, happy family, but when an intruder appears, all is excite- 

 ment and confusion. There are two sputtering, fluttering, scolding 

 old birds trying to lure or scare you away in several directions at 

 once, and there is a scurrying flock of chicks, under your feet one 

 moment, gone the next. They take to their heels now, but in a 

 short time their quills sprout, and then when disturbed they take to 

 wing like a lot of bumblebees. 



As the summer passes the broods often join in larger flocks, and 

 when they get scattered the call -whistle, bob-white, is heard again 



