BOB WHITE. 



OOMEWHAT related to the grouse is the Quail, as he is 

 *-5 called in the Northern States, or " Bob White," his 

 universally recognized appellation. His scientific name is 

 OrtyxVirginianus. Differing from the Old World partridges, 

 he has been assigned a place in the sub-family Odontopho- 

 rinae, of which five genera are said to exist, most of them 

 being restricted to the extreme south-west of our country. 

 His habits and history are full of interest to everbody. 



Quails are restless, uneasy birds, attached to one place 

 while rearing their family, but immediately upon the brood 

 becoming able to travel, commencing their wanderings. There 

 is no accounting for these movements, which sometimes 

 deprive a whole district of their presence for a time, to popu- 

 late a neighboring region previously without them. When 

 such journeys are undertaken, a large number of birds par- 

 ticipate, travelling on foot, and passing steadily through 

 districts where food is plentiful, and seemingly without any 

 definite destination in mind, so loath are they to use their 

 wings, that in attempting to cross wide rivers and inlets 

 immense numbers are said to perish. A limited and partial 

 migration, it is highly probable, takes place annually from 

 the more northern to warmer latitudes, influenced in its 

 extent by the comparative severity of the seasons, being 

 more distinctly migrating west than east of the Delaware 

 River. 



About the middle of March the winter flocks break up, 

 and the mating begins. Although not indulging in the 

 noisy 'and seemingly meaningless antics of the grouse to 



