CHAPTER LI. 



December 11 December 17. 



THE BOB WHITE. 



Order Gallinse. Suborder Phasiani. 



Family Tetraonidae. Subfamily Odontophorinse. 



Genus Colinus. Species Colinus virginianus. 



Length 9.50 to 10.75 \ wing, 4.30 to 4.70 ; tail, 2.40 to 2.90. 

 Permanent resident. 



"I see him on the zig zag rail, 



The cheery little fellow! 

 While purple leaves are hurling down, 



And scarlet brown and yellow. 

 I hear him when the air is full 



Of snow-down of the thistle; 

 All in his speckled jacket trim, 



'Bob White! Bob White!' is his whistle." 



The family Tetraonidae has in it about two hundred spe- 

 cies and is composed of the grouse, pheasants, partridges, 

 quails and Bob-whites. It is subdivided into three sub-fami- 

 lies as follows: (1) Perdicinae, containing the true quails and 

 partridges of the old world ; (2) Odontophoringe, the Bob- 

 whites and the so-called "quails" and "partridges" of the new 

 world ; and (3) Tetraonidae, the grouse, with representatives 

 in the northern parts of both hemispheres. According to 

 Chapman, "All the tetraonidae are ground-inhabiting birds, 

 and their plumage of blended browns, buffs and grays brings 

 them into such close harmony with their surroundings that, 



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