411 



ORTYX VIRGINIANUS, VAR. VIRGINIANUS (Bonap). 



QUAIL.: PARTRIDGE: BOB- WHITE. 



Specific Character. — Forehead, and line through the eye and along the side 

 of the neck, with chin and throat white. A band of black across the vertex, and 

 extending backwards on the sides, within the white, and another from the max- 

 illa beneath the eye, and crossing on the lower part of the throat. The under 

 parts are white tinged with brown anteriorly ; each feather with several narrow, 

 obtusely V shaped bands of black. The fore part of the back, the stde of the 

 breast, and in front, just below the black collar, of a dull pinkish red. The sides 

 of the body and wing coverts, brownish red ; the latter almost uniforoa without 

 indication of mottling. Scapulars and upper tertials coarsely blotched with 

 black and edged internally with brownish yellow. Top of head, reddish ; the 

 lower part of neck except anteriorly, streaked with white and black. Primary 

 quills, unspotted brown. Tail, ash. Female with the white markings of the. 

 head replaced by brownish yellow; the black ones with brownish. 



Length, 10.00; wing, 4.70; tail, 2.85. 



Habitat. — Eastern United States and as far west as Dakota, Kansas, and 

 eastern Texas ; as far north as the southern portion of Ontario. 



This gamy little bird is not a quail, properly speaking, although that is the- 

 common name in Ontario. It belongs to the family of Pericidae or partridges 

 and in the Southern States where it is very plentiful, it is known as the partridges 

 In the southern tier of counties in Ontario, west of Toronto, the quail is a per- 

 manent resident, being in no wise a migratory bird. Thirty or forty years ago, it 

 was commonly found some distance north of Toronto, but it is doubtful if it is 

 found at all there now. The severity of the winters, aided by its numerous 

 enemies, has so depleted its ranks that its distribution is not so great as formerly. 

 However it is astonishing how rapidly they multiply if one or two mild winters 

 have been succeeded by dry spring, weather during the breeding season. The 

 nest is made about the last of April or the first of May, always on the ground, 

 and as the bird likes to frequent low grounds, the nest is often after heavy rains 

 covered with water and its contents consequently destroyed, in which case the 

 hen, nothing daunted begins to lay again a lot of eggs, usually from twelve to 

 twenty, although records have been made of as many as thirty eggs in one nest. 

 It is probable however that more than one hen has contributed in such a case. 

 It is almost incredible that the little mother could cover and keep warm, during 

 incubation, such a large number, and yet it is rare to find in a nest any addled 

 eggs. The little ones are able to run and follow their mother as soon as hatched. 

 If she raises a second brood, which is generally the case, it usually unites with 

 the first in the autumn, and if undisturbed they keep together till the next spring 

 when they separate in pairs to take up housekeeping. The male is generally 

 faithful to his mate, although occasionally he will associate with more than one 

 female, when it is said that the little hens all contribute eggs to one nest. 



Their habits are such that they are very liable to be destroyed. They roost 

 upon the ground, generally in the weedy edge of some swale, sitting in a circle, 

 heads out, and tails to the centre ; in this way a watch is kept on all quarters for 

 enemies, and it also serves in the winter to keep them warm, but if during the 

 night they are covered by a large fall of drifting snow, followed by a partial 

 thaw, and a crust forms, the birds are imprisoned and perish of hunger, and in 

 the spring when the snow melts it is a very common thing to find a whole bevy 



