390 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



black; tbe forepart of back, the side of the breast and in front just below the black 

 collar, of a dull pinkish-red; the sides of body and wing coverts brownish-red; the 

 latter almost unitbrm, without indication of mottling; scapulars and upper tertials 

 coarsely blotched with black, and edged internally with brownish-yellow; top of 

 hoad reddish ; the lower part of neck, except anteriorly, streaked with white and 

 I'lack; primary quills unspotted brown; tail ash. 



Female with the white markings of Uie head replaced by brownish-j-ellow ; the 

 black wanting. 



This species is subject to considerable variations both of size and color, the more 

 norlliern being considerably the larger; southern specimens are darker, with 

 more black about the head, on the wings, and the middle of the back; there is also 

 a more appreciable mottling on the wings, and the feathers of the back are streaked 

 with black. 



Length, ten inches; wing, four and seventy one-hundredths inches; tail, two and 

 eightj' -five one-hundredths inches. 



THIS bird is well known in various localities as " Bob- 

 White;' '' More -Wet;' '' Buck -Wheat;' etc., from 

 its peculiar call or wlii.^tle ; it is pretty generally distributed 

 throughout most of the country, from the Rocky Mountains 

 to the Atlantic Ocean. In the JSTew England States it is 

 very rarely found north of Massachusetts, but in the 

 Western States and in some of the Southern it is quite 

 generally met with. In Illinois and the other prairie States 

 it is exceedingly abundant, and in sections where large areas 

 of Indian corn and wheat are raised, it is found in great 

 numbers. In Ohio it is in some localities the most connnon 

 of birds, and with a good dog in some of the extensive 

 ranges of young growth devoted to pasturage I have had 

 magnificent shooting. 



The call of the male bird is a familiar sound in our fields 

 and pastures in the spring and summer months. Perched 

 on a fence or on a low tree or bush, he repeats his cheerful 

 song time and time again, and I know of nothing among 

 the sounds of rural life that is more inspiriting to the city 

 denizen and the weary man of business. 



To listen to the Quail repeating his notes in sunnner is to 

 recall our boyhood's days in the fields and meadows of the 

 old homestead. It is to bring back to memory the delicious 

 rambles in the old berry pastures of long ago. It is to call 



