FIG. 5. CHESTNUT-BELLIED SEALED QUAIL (CALLll'EPLA. SQUAMATA CASTASTANOGAS- 

 TRI8). MALE. SHOWS THE APPEARANCE OF THE BIRD ON THE GROUND. 



eastern States, and its nest and eggs differ 

 in no respect whatever from those of that 

 bird. In fact, as we come northward and 

 eastward, it gradually shades into the stock 

 species. that is, into Colinus v. vvrginianus; 

 and, as we go south into Mexico, it is said 

 to gradually approach CoHnus graysoni in 

 form and plumage. 



In November, 1913, when walking through 

 the woods and fields with my wife near Somer- 

 set, District of Columbia, and without any 

 dog, I put up three fine bevies of quails, or 

 partridges as they are known in that locality. 

 There were some thirty in the first bevy, and 

 from a dozen to fifteen in the other two, 

 making fully sixty birds altogether. 



The largest flock of these birds I ever saw 

 was flushed by a train of cars on the Union 

 Pacific Railroad, and I saw them from one 

 of the car windows. It was sometime during 

 the latter part of the seventies, and I was 

 traveling westward through Nebraska. The 

 train had stopped "to water" at one of the 

 big tanks close to the rails. No building or 

 people were within miles and the birds had 

 collected in the shadow of the tank, from off 

 the surrounding prairies to enjoy the cool 

 shade, and to drink the water which had 

 dripped from the tank. As the train ap- 

 poached, the entire flock took wing together, 

 and it was truly a most remarkable sight, for 

 there must have been at least over a thousand 

 birds in the bunch ! 



Wilson's account of the Bob-white is a most 



interesting one, and especially so for the 

 reason that the species was so plentiful during 

 the time he wrote. He records several in- 

 stances where the clutch of eggs of a quail 

 was hatched out by the common hen; and, 

 what was still more remarkable, where quails 

 would sit on hen's eggs, hatch them out, and 

 rear the brood of chickens. In one case of this 

 kind, the quail led the brood into the woods, 

 and the chickens soon acquired the habits of 

 young quails. 



In commenting upon this, Wilson says : "A 

 friend of mine, who himself made the ex- 

 periment, informs me, that, of several hen's 

 eggs which he substituted in place of those 

 of the Partridge, she brought out the whole; 

 and that, for several weeks, he occasionally 

 surprised her in various partg of the planta- 

 tion with a brood of chickens ; on which 

 occasions she exhibited all that distrustful 

 alarm, and practiced her usual manoeuvres for 

 their preservation. Even after they were con- 

 siderably grown, and larger than the Partridge 

 herself, she continued to lead them about; 

 but, though their notes or calls were those 

 of common chickens, their manners had all 

 the shyness, timidity, and alarm of young 

 Partridges ; running with great rapidity, and 

 squatting in the grass exactly in the manner 

 of the Partridge. Soon after this they dis- 

 appeared, having probably been destroyed by 

 dogs, by the gun, or by birds of prey. Whether 

 the domestic fowl might not by this method be 

 very soon brought back to its original savage 



