Unlike the blue quail they never gather in large flocks, 

 but always remain in single broods until broken up in 

 the spring for nesting purposes. 



Color Male The head of these birds have a very 

 bizarre appearance whose strange black and white mark- 

 ings seem to have no more purpose or design than the 

 black and white chalk marks on a clown's face. The 

 head of the male is crested with semi-erectile feathers 

 in the shape of a broad hood of dark yellowish brown 

 color, falling about half way down the neck; ground- 

 work of the back and of the wing and tail coverts is a 

 dark ocher barred with a deep rich brown; breast and 

 flanks are nearly black, dotted with large white spots, 

 and from the throat to the vent is a stripe about five- 

 eighths of an inch wide of a dark rich chestnut. 



Female The female, with the exception of the white 

 dof, on the breast and flanks is much the color of the 

 female bobwhite. 



Nest and Eggs The nest is like that of the quail 

 generally, simply a depression in the ground, carefully 

 hidden away in some thick matted grass or bunch of 

 brush, and generally higher up the hill-sides than they 

 are found at other times. Eggs, white, and of a china 

 appearance, and from ten to fifteen in number. 



Measurements While these birds are fully one-half 

 larger than the blue quail, the very short tail makes 

 their total length not over 8 to 9 inches; wing, 5 inches, 

 and bill, %. 



THE BOBWHITE 



(Colinus virginianus) 



I have said that the voice of the bobwhite is heard 

 in the land. This is true, for the clear notes of his lit- 

 tle throat awaken the morning echoes from eastern 

 Oregon to the islands of Puget Sound. This great lit- 

 tle game bird, whose praise has been recounted in vol- 

 umes of prose and sung in the rhythmic measures of 

 countless lines of verse, is not a native of the coast, 

 but he knew a good thing when he saw it. When he 

 was turned loose in the Pacific Northwest he cast his 

 bright little eyes about him and remarked to himself: 



"This looks good to me. Bobwhite, get busy at once 

 in raising big families and settle up your new domain." 



And he has done it, for now the sportsmen of the 

 Pacific Northwest have better bobwhite shooting than 

 is to be found in any part of the eastern states. 



The bobwhite roosts on the ground and always re- 

 27 



