THE AMEEICAN QUAIL. 263 



poultry, render them familiar to all men, women, boys 

 and fools throughout the regions which they inhabit. 

 It is stated by ornithologists, that they abound from 

 Nova Scotia and the northern parts of Canada to Florida 

 and the Great Osage villages ; but this is incorrect, as 

 they rarely are seen eastward of Massachusetts ; never in 

 Nova Scotia, or Canada East ; and range so far as Texas 

 and the edges of the great American salt desert. The 

 adult male bird differs from the hen in having its chaps 

 and a remarkable gorget on the throat and lower neck, 

 pure white, bordered with jetty black ; which parts in 

 the young male and the adult female, are bright reddish- 

 yellow ; the upper parts of both are beautifully dashed 

 and freckled with chestnut and mahogany-brown, black, 

 yellow, gray, and pure white ; the under parts pure 

 white, longitudinally dashed with brownish red, and 

 transversely streaked with black arrow-headed marks. 

 The colors of the male are all brighter, and more defi- 

 nite, than in the female. 



Everywhere eastward of the Delaware the Quail is 

 resident, never rambling far from the haunts in which 

 he is bred. Everywhere to the westward he is in the 

 later autumn migratory, moving constantly on foot, and 

 never flying except when flushed or compelled to cross 

 streams and water-courses, from the west eastward ; the 

 farther west, the *more marked is this peculiarity. 



The Quail pairs early in March ; begins to lay early 

 in May, in a nest made on the surface of the ground, 



