BOB WHITE, THE GAME BIRD OF AMERICA. 



By ALFRED M. MAYER. 



01 all the game birds of America, none is so endeared to the 

 lover of country life or better appreciated by the sportsman 

 than little Bob White. He may be found from southern 

 Maine and Canada to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the high 

 central plains, and he is known by various names. In the North 

 and East, he is called Quail ; in the South and West, he is Part- 

 ridge; while everywhere he is known as Bob White. Let us 

 then call him as he calls himself, and we will not be berated for our 

 ignorance of natural history. In fact, he is neither quail nor part- 

 ridge ; but to our mind he seems more akin to the latter than to the 

 former of his European cousins. The quail of Europe is a smaller 

 and more dumpy bird than our little friend. His flesh is dark and 

 loaded with fat. His plumage is dull and his aspect plebeian. He 

 does not form into coveys, but flocks at the periods of his migra- 

 tions, when he flies at night, and in the company of countless num- 

 bers, during the month of April crosses the Mediterranean to the 

 European shores and islands, returning to Africa in the autumn.* 



• • The quails assemble at the approach of autumn, to cross the Black Sea over to 

 the southern coast The order of this emigration is invariable. Toward the end of 

 August the quails, in a body, choose one of those fine days when the wind, blowing 

 from the north at sunset, promises them a fine night ; they take their departure about 

 seven in the evening, and finish a journey of fifty leagues by break of day, — a wonder- 

 ful distance for a short-winged bird, and one that is generally fat and sluggish of flight. 



u Such prodigious quantities have appeared on the western coasts of the kingdom 

 of Naples, in the vi< inity of Ncttuno, that one hundred thousand have in one day been 

 taken within the space of four or five mile-.." — Daniel's "Rural Sports." 



