100 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



a month or two, and have but one brood. The first 

 chicks that I saw in the summer of 1865 were hatched 

 in May, and I found others the same year only a few 

 days old in August; but by this month almost all the 

 birds of the year were well grown, and by September 

 were in condition to offer legitimate sport. In Octo- 

 ber a few are found not yet ready to be shot; but the 

 great majority are as large as the parents, and nearly 

 as strong of wing. The season may, therefore, be said 

 to begin in October and continue into March ; but birds 

 should not be pursued later than the middle of this 

 month, for although few birds, if any, actually mate 

 before April, it is cruel, as well as injudicious, to dis- 

 turb them while they are preparing to do so. The be- 

 ginning of the pairing season may be known to be 

 at hand when certain peculiar cries, different from any 

 usually emitted during the fall and winter, are heard. 



"These notes are a sign that the coveys are breaking 

 up and mating is about to commence. They are analo- 

 gous to the bobwhite of the eastern quail (Ortyx vir- 

 ginianus), and are uttered, as with that species, more 

 particularly in the breeding season. The note is a loud, 

 energetic, two-syllable whistle, delivered in a clear, 

 ringing tone. It is difficult to write down intelligently, 

 but, once heard, is not likely to be afterward mistaken, 

 except for one of the cries of the black-headed gros- 

 beak. It sounds to my ears something like the forcible 

 pronunciation of the syllables killink, killink, indefinite- 

 ly repeated, sometimes in a rising and sometimes with 

 a falling intonation. The old cocks, if they can be 



