THE QUAIL. 55 



consists of three distinct notes, the two last being loudest, 

 and is peculiar to the bird. A fancied similarity to the 

 words Bob White renders this call familiar to the sportsman 

 and farmer; but these notes are always preceded by another, 

 easily heard at a distance of thirty or forty yards. The three 

 together resemble the words ah Bob White. The first note 

 is a kind of aspiration, and the last is very loud and clear. 

 This whistle is seldom heard after the breeding season,* 

 during which an imitation of the peculiar note of the female 

 will make the male fly towards the sportsman, who may 

 then easily shoot it. 



"In the Middle Districts the love-call of the male is heard 

 about the middle of April, and in Louisiana much earlier. 

 The male is seen perched on a fence-stake, or on the low 

 branch of a tree, standing nearly in the same position for 

 hours together, and calling ah Bob White at every interval 

 of a few minutes. Should he hear the note of a female, he 

 sails directly towards the spot whence it proceeded. Several 

 males may be heard from different parts of a field challeng- 

 ing each other, and should they meet on the ground, they 

 fight with great courage and obstinacy, until the conqueror 

 drives off his antagonist to another field. 



" The female prepares a nest composed of grasses, arranged 

 in a circular form, leaving an entrance not unlike that of a 

 common oven. It is placed at the foot of a tuft of rank 

 grass or some close stalks of corn, and is partly sunk in the 

 ground. The eggs, 10-15, rather sharp at the smaller end, 

 are white. The male at times assists in hatching them. 

 This species raises only one brood in the year, unless the eggs 

 or the young when yet small have been destroyed. When 

 this happens the female immediately prepares another nest; 

 and should it also be ravaged, sometimes even a third. The 



* I have heard this same ditty occasionally in the pleasant days of autumn. 



