394 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



black; the forepart of back, the side of the breast and in front just below the black 

 collar, of a dull pinkish-red; the sides of body and wing coverts brownish-red; the 

 latter almost uniform, 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 wanting. 



This species is subject to considerable variations both of size and color, the more 

 northern 'being considerably the larger; southern specimens are darker, with 

 more black about the head, on the wings, and the middle of the back ; there is also 

 a more appreciable mottling on the wings, and the feathers of the back are streaked 

 with black. 



Length, ten inches ; wing, four and seventy one-hundredths inches ; tail, two and 

 eighty-five one-hundredths inches. 



THIS beautiful bird, very improperly called the Quail, is 

 not very connnon in any part of New England north 

 of Massachusetts ; and in that State it is rapidly becoming 

 rare, both in consequence of the destructive pertinacity 

 with which it is followed by all sportsmen, and the abomi- 

 nable practice of snaring and netting it, that is growing too 

 common. In Massachusetts and the other southern New- 

 England States, it is partially migratory in the fall ; repair- 

 ing to the neighborhood of the seacoast, where it remains 

 two or three weeks : it returns to the fields and swamps, by 

 the first fall of snow, where it passes the winter. Its habits 

 are pretty well known in New England ; but, that my 

 readers may know about it elsewhere, I give the very inter- 

 esting description by Wilson. He says, 



" They are most numerous in the vicinity of well-cultivated 

 plantations, where grain is in plenty. They, however, occasionally 

 seek shelter in the woods, perching on the branches, or secreting 

 themselves among the brushwood ; but are found most usually in 

 open fields, or along fences sheltered by thickets of briers. Where 

 they are not too much persecuted by the sportsmen, they become 

 almost half domesticated ; approach the barn, particularly in winter, 

 and sometimes, in that severe season, mix with the poultry to glean 

 up a subsistence. They remain with us the whole year, and often 

 suffer extremely by long, hard winters and deep snows. At such 



