BIRDS OF KANSAS. 221 



five yards from the house; several dogs were running about the 

 yard, and the house cat was purring in the doorway. Fearing 

 the eggs would be destroyed, I suggested the building of a high, 

 tight fence around the nest. "Oh ! " said the farmer, "that is 

 not necessary; our cats and dogs will not harm them, for they 

 know them well, as they have for a long time run about with 

 the chickens, and feed with them from food thrown from the 

 door step." I am confident if man was as friendly to the birds 

 as they are to man, that they would soon become thoroughly 

 domesticated. Trapped and hunted as they are, with dog and 

 gun, it is not strange that, as a whole, they remain timid and 

 mistrustful, and, were they not naturally birds of civilization, 

 would rapidly disappear with the settlement of a country. As 

 it is, they seem to realize that man is only at times their enemy, 

 and that his cultivated fields afford them a safe resort from 

 their many other enemies, and insure a more certain and boun- 

 tiful supply of food than found elsewhere. 



In the destruction of injurious insects, and the seeds of weeds, 

 upon which they largely feed, they more than doubly repay for 

 the few grains eaten prior to the harvest. 



Their flesh is highly esteemed, and to the wing shot a most 

 attractive game bird. When startled, rise with a loud whirring 

 sound; in flight very swift, low, and direct; a rather laborious 

 effort, dropping back into the first inviting cover. They do not, 

 like our Prairie Hens, collect in large flocks, but move about 

 in small coveys or family groups; pairing during the breeding 

 season, and, although not strictly. true to each other in their 

 marriage relations, are very attentive and share alike in the 

 duties of protecting and rearing the young. 



Their nests are placed on the ground, in a depression, usually 

 in the grass upon the prairies, sometimes in a thicket, tinder a 

 low bush; composed of grasses, and usually arched over, with 

 entrance on the sides. Eggs fifteen to twenty, 1.20x. 97; pure 

 white; in shape, pyriform. Nests found with a larger number 

 of eggs, I think the product of two or more females. 



