THE COLIN. 161 



dance, and in autumn evenings may be heard " calling " 

 close to the roadside. 



Unlike the quail proper, which is a bird of passage, 

 the Colin is stationary, and perhaps to a greater degree 

 than most non-migratory birds, often evincing extraor- 

 dinary attachment to particular localities. Though 

 occasionally seen in the woods, I have never myself 

 found them anywhere but in the open country; in the 

 vicinity of broken ground where long grass and twining 

 briars are interwoven ; or about the tangled bottoms 

 of snake-fences, and in the neighbourhood of fields of 

 buckwheat or maize, to which they are very partial. In 

 such places I have found them in abundance, and enjoyed 

 the prettiest shooting imaginable. They are often found 

 hiding among the pumpkins, which in the latter fields 

 grow between the rows of corn. 



It is in rough neglected places, like the ground first 

 mentioned, that they conceal their most comfortable 

 and ingeniously-made nests, which are covered over with 

 a roof of leaves and fine grass, as a protection against the 

 weather, an entrance being left at the side. They pair 

 in March or April, and during the subsequent period of 

 incubation, which lasts about a month, the male bird sits 

 in the vicinity of the nest, whistling to his mate. 

 Their eggs, which are perfectly white and rather pointed, 

 are often twenty or twenty-four in number. Notwith- 



M 



