THE BOB -WHITE OR QUAIL 



( Colinus virginianus. ) 



Hark! what is that sound rising clear 

 as a bell across the meadow ? then listen, 

 and again in accents clear comes the call 

 ringing over the intervening space ; 

 "bob-white; bob! bpb! white." It is 

 the call note of one of the most familiar 

 of the game birds, the Quail. Observe 

 him now as he mounts the top rail of 

 yonder fence, lifts his head with its 

 snow-white throat high in the air and 

 again gives vent to his feelings in the 

 familiar cry. He is a beautiful sight as 

 he perches there clothed in his coat of 

 brown with its gray trimmings. 



The Quail is a bird of the open clear 

 ings or bushy tracts of country, and is 

 seldom or never found in woodlands. 

 Like other native birds it follows closely 

 in the wake of civilization and has spread 

 from the natural clearings along river 

 valleys and on prairies to the clearings 

 made by men. Here it has thriven and 

 were it not for the omnivorous sports 

 man the Quails would be almost as com 

 mon as chickens. 



The food habits of this bird are inter 

 esting. Its diet is quite varied, includ 

 ing such grains and other crop seeds as 

 oats, barely, rye, wheat and corn. The 

 seed of noxious and other plants, such 

 as smart-weed, rag-weed, partridge ber 

 ries and wild grapes are also eaten, many , 

 of them being gathered in the fields 

 while feeding upon the scattered grain 

 seed. Grass and some other green food 

 is also eaten as well as various insects, 

 grubs and beetles, which form a goodly 

 part of their food during the breeding 

 season. In winter beechnuts and acorns 

 are eaten. The farmer does not seem 

 to value this bird as he ought to do. 

 While it is true that some grain is eaten, 

 it is also true that the grain is mostly 

 gathered from the ground and with it 

 a host of seed of noxious weeds. It 

 would seem from a study of the food 

 habits of the Quail that a flock or two in 

 a wheat or corn field would be a boon 

 rather than a curse. The fact should 



not be lost sight of, also, that during 

 the breeding season, when the young 

 birds are being raised, a large number 

 of insects and insect-larvae are eaten. 



The mating season begins about the 

 first of April and egg-laying about a 

 month later. The nest is built on the 

 ground and is made up of different 

 grasses. It is partly covered over, an 

 opening being left for entrance and exit. 

 The nest is placed in any favorable sit 

 uation where some measure of protec 

 tion is afforded, such as in a fence cor 

 ner, near a stump or in depressions in 

 grassy clearings. Like all gallinaceous 

 birds, the Quail is a prolific egg layer, 

 the set consisting of from ten to twenty- 

 five eggs, the average being about fif 

 teen. The eggs are perfectly white and 

 measure about an inch and a quarter in 

 length by less than an inch in width. 

 Incubation requires about four weeks 

 time. Unlike the young of passerine 

 and some other groups of birds, the 

 newly hatched Quail, as well 'as other 

 gallinaceous birds, are able to take care 

 of themselves as soon as hatched, and 

 do not' require the parents to feed them 

 as do the young of the higher birds, the 

 nests of which are mostly built in trees 

 and bushes for protection against pre- 

 daceous animals. The mother con 

 ducts the young Quails about much 

 as does the old hen her chickens, 

 and the young are brooded under her 

 wing as in the case of the domestic fowls. 

 The artifice resorted to by the parent 

 when, she and her young are surprised 

 is interesting and amusing. The young 

 disappear in every direction as though 

 the earth had swallowed them. The 

 parent meanwhile, flutters along, beating 

 the ground with her wings and showing 

 every evidence of being sorely wounded. 

 She acts in this manner until the pur 

 suer is a considerable distance from the 

 spot where her chickens are, when she 

 suddenly takes wing or runs swiftly 

 along and disappears, rejoining her 



