TETRAONID ZE . 151 



places and desert mountains, where, among low bushes, she 

 deposits her eggs, to the number of fifteen, of a yellowish 

 colour, thickly dotted with greenish-olive spots. 



THE VIRGINIAN ORTYX. Ortyx Virgmiana. It would 

 be difficult, perhaps, to furnish a more condensed and excel- 

 lent account of the present species than the following, which 

 we extract from the ' Pictorial Museum of Animated Na- 

 ture/ "According to Wilson," says the writer of that work, 

 " the Virginian or Maryland Quail is a general inhabitant of 

 North America, from the northern parts of Canada to the 

 extremity of Florida, and is numerous in Kentucky and 

 Ohio. It frequents the vicinity of cultivated lands where 

 grain is in plenty ; and though the coveys sometimes take 

 shelter in woods or among bushes, they are most usually 

 found in the open fields or along fences of briars. Where 

 not much persecuted by sportsmen, they become almost half- 

 domesticated, and in winter approach the farmyard, mixing 

 with the poultry, and there gleaning their subsistence. It 

 would appear indeed that with little trouble this species 

 might be domesticated. The Virginian Quail begins to 

 build early in May, making a thick nest of leaves and dried 

 grass, under a tuft of grass that shelters and conceals it ; it 

 is domed, and has a lateral entrance. The eggs are from 



