90 Trails to Woods and Waters 



and is known in parts -of the south as the Vir- 

 ginia partridge. 



While Bob- White is making love to a shy 

 lady quail down in the thicket, let us briefly 

 consider his short life up to this morning, 

 that you may know why he was so glad spring 

 had come, and why the answering call from 

 the thicket had been so sweet to his ears. 



The latter part of May, the previous 

 spring, Bob-White had been merely one of 

 fifteen eggs lying cunningly concealed in a 

 nest made on the ground under a brush fence. 



About the middle of June all of these fif- 

 teen eggs had begun to manifest signs of life, 

 and in about fifteen minutes after the first tiny 

 bill appeared, the whole brood was hatched. 



They were no featherless, hairless, gawky 

 fledglings, but bright, alert chicks fairly well 

 clad, and as smart as crickets. 



In a few hours they were following their 

 mother about picking up their living just as 

 though they had done nothing else for years. 



But an evil fate had pursued the brood 

 from the very day of hatching. When they 



