670 Bob IVhite, the Game Bird of America. 



But this gallant and affectionate bird is naturally a monogamist. 

 He selects his mate and makes his courtship in the spring, soon 

 after the snow and frost have gone, when the willows have turned 

 yellow, while the frogs are piping in the marsh and the Wilson's 

 snipe is drumming above the meadows. If the wintry storm should 

 come back, the mates will re-assemble in a covey, and keep each 

 other warm o' nights, and huddle on the sunny slopes during the day. 

 In the month of May they build their simple nest, formed of 

 a slight depression in the ground, lined with dried leaves and soft 

 grasses. This nest may be found under a tussock of grass, beneath 

 a small bush, in the brier-grown corner of a worm-fence, at the foot 

 of an old stump, alongside a log, or often in the open fields of wheat 

 or clover. The nest is sometimes closed above with stubble mingled 

 with the grass tussock or briers, and provided with a side entrance ; 

 but the nest is as often found open above as closed. 



In this nest the hen-bird lays from one dozen to two dozen eggs 

 of a pure, brilliant white. While the hen is laying, and during her 

 time of nesting, the cock is the happiest of husbands. Filled with 

 joy and pride, he sits on the low bough of a neighboring tree, or 

 perches on the fence-rail quite near his spouse, whom he never 

 wearies of telling that he is "Bob White — your Bob White," in 



such a brilliant, happy voice that the farmer 

 stops his work and the children leave their 

 play to listen to him, and they are happier 

 for having heard him. 



In from three to four weeks the little 

 downy young leave the Qgg, and even with 

 pieces of egg-shell yet sticking on their backs 

 they go off with their parents to be taught to 



BOB WHITE EGG (FULL SIZE). -\ r r -i T-1 r 1 1 IT 



(from the collection search for food. 1 hey teed on the seeds ot 



OF A. B. BAILEY.) 



various grasses, weeds, and cereals, and on 

 berries ; and they return a hundred-fold the bounty of their landlord, 

 by destroying for his benefit not only countless numbers of destructive 

 insects, but quantities of weed-seed, one to two gills of which the 

 adult birds can stow away in their little crops during a day's feeding. 

 If rain should come on, or the cold wind blow, the mother calls 

 her younglings under her wings, where they nestle safe from the 

 chilling storm. When night comes on, she and her spouse take their 



