664 Bob IVhite, the Game Bird of America. 



He is a polygamous, pugnacious, selfish little Arab, and lacks en- 

 tirely that gallant bearing and affectionate nature which are marked 

 characteristics of the American bird. A wretched husband, he 

 abandons his wives and young to their fate at the waning of the 

 honeymoon ; and his selfish manners are inherited by his chicks, 

 who "are hardly full grown when they separate, or, if kept together, 

 fight obstinately, and their quarrels are terminated only by their 

 mutual destruction." It belies both the appearance and character 

 of Bob White to call him after such a mean-looking, disreputable 

 bird as the European quail. 



The common European gray partridge differs somewhat in form 

 from our bird, which in this particular resembles more closely the 

 red-legged partridge of Europe ; but what is said of the habits of 

 Bob White applies equally well to the European partridge. The 

 latter weighs twice as much as Bob White, but he has not Bob's 

 sturdy, rapid, and often long-continued flight. Like our bird, his 

 flesh is white ; he forms into coveys ; is monogamous, and keeps 

 with his wife and brood till the following spring. He is not migra- 

 tory or nocturnal in his habits. His wings are similar in form to 

 those of our bird, having the third quill-feather the longest, which is 

 a characteristic of the partridges, and distinguishes them from the 

 quails, which have the first quill-feather the longest. 



It is true that Bob White ft sometimes partly migratory in his 

 habits. It is said that he has "a running season" in October, when, 

 joining a pack, he leaves the region of his birth and travels on foot 

 in a southerly and easterly direction till he reaches the borders of 

 streams and bays, where he may remain till November, when he 

 returns to his former haunts. During his travels it would be useless 

 to hunt him, for he then runs with great rapidity before the dog, and 

 will not take wing. 



The European partridge and Bob White differ in their call-notes 

 and in their longevity, Daniel, in his superb " Rural Sports," Lon- 

 don, 181 2, states: "It is said, the partridge, if unmolested, lives 

 from fifteen to seventeen years ; others dispute this computation, and 

 maintain that they live seven years, and give over laying in the 

 sixth, and are in full vigor when two years old." Dr. Elisha T. 

 Lewis, in his "American Sportsman," Philadelphia, 1857, says that 

 the average duration of Bob White's life is three to five years ; but 



