QUAIL. 



THE Continent of America is amply provided with gallinaceous 

 birds, and these are found here, not only in unusual numbers 

 as regards species, genera and families, but also in the greatest 

 variety as to size, delicacy of flavor and the game qualities so 

 highly prized by the sportsman. From the Wild Turkey, weigh- 

 ing perhaps twenty-five pounds, to the little Quail which turns the 

 scale at a few ounces, is certainly a long step, and between the two 

 we have nine species of Grouse and over forty species of the 

 OdontophorincE, the sub-family to which the Quails belong. The 

 latter, it is true, are by no means all inhabitants of the United 

 States, having by far their greatest development in Mexico and in 

 Central and South America. Still, three at least of these South- 

 ern species are found to the north of the Rio Grande, and are 

 properly to be included within the limits of this chapter. Besides 

 these, there are the Mountain and the Valley Quail of California, 

 the former sometimes found at an elevation of over six thousand 

 feet, and last but by far the most highly esteemed by the brother- 

 hood of sportsmen, our own little Bob White. This bird is the 

 only one of all those above mentioned which lies well to a dog. 

 The western and south-western species have not as yet been edu- 

 cated up to this point ; they all prefer to run, after having once 

 been flushed, and as they choose the most impenetrable thickets 

 of chapparal and mesquite through which to pass, it is often quite 

 impossible to start them from the ground a second time. The 

 species belonging to the sub-family OdotitophorincB which are 

 found within the limits of the United States are as follows : 



Ortyx virginianus.— Bon. Quail (of the North) ; Partridge (of the South) ; Bob 

 White. 



Inhabits the Eastern United States to the high central plains ; 

 introduced, and doing well in Utah. Description ; feathers of the 



