226 YIBGIKTAX PARTRIDGE. 



close to barns in search of any 'waifs or strays' in the shape 

 of food, mix with the poultry, and seem almost half-domesti- 

 cated. They suffer severely in times of deep snow and length- 

 ened winters. About the beginning of September they collect 

 in flocks of from four or five to thirty. They usually roost 

 at night on some high ground in the middle of a field, 

 and they are said to lie in a circle with their heads outwards ; 

 in trees also sometimes. 



They fly with a whirring sound, straight, steadily, and quick. 



Their food is made up of Indian corn, buckwheat, and 

 other grain, seeds, berries, and insects. 



The call, says Wilson, consists of two notes loud and clear, 

 with sometimes an introductory one, and resembles the words 

 'Bob White;' another account describes it as two short low 

 whistles, followed by one long, loud, and shrill. 



Nidification begins early in May. 



The nest, placed under or in some thick tuft of grass that 

 shelters and conceals it, is described as well covered with a 

 hood, an opening being left on one side for entrance, and is 

 composed of leaves and fine dry grass, both birds assisting 

 in its fabrication. 



The eggs, from ten or twelve to fifteen or even twenty- 

 four in number, this latter quantity the joint produce in 

 all probability of two birds laying in the same nest, are 

 pure white, without any spots, and broad at one end, and 

 pointed at the other. 



The hen bird performs the task of incubation for four weeks, 

 and the whole family keep together till the following spring. 

 The young leave the nest at once on being hatched, and 

 are conducted forth by the female in search of food, and 

 from time to time are sheltered under her wings, collected 

 together by a twittering cry. Should danger appear to 

 threaten, she displays extreme anxiety, boldly attacking an 

 intruder, or using every artifice and stratagem to draw him 

 away, feigning lameness, 'throwing herself in the path, flut- 

 tering along, and beating the ground with her wings, as if 

 sorely wounded, uttering at the same time certain peculiar 

 notes of alarm, well understood by the young, which dive 

 separately among the grass, and secrete themselves till the 

 danger is over; and the parent, having decoyed the pursuer 

 to a safe distance, returns, by a circuitous route, to collect 

 and lead them off. She shews the greatest assiduity and 

 the most sedulous and unremitting attention in their further 



