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GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



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The nest, placed upon the ground, is not much of 

 a structure, merely a cavity hollowed out in the soil 

 under a bush or fence, in pastures, or in the cotton rows 

 in Southern States ; in fact, in any spot where the locality 

 affords the required concealment and privacy. It is well 

 hidden and lined with grasses or stubble and sometimes 

 arched over at the top with an aperture at the side, or 

 again, entirely open. The eggs, which are a brilliant 

 white, sharply pointed at one end, vary in number from 

 twelve to twenty, and sometimes as many as thirty-two 

 have been found, but, in such a case, more than one hen 

 must have laid in the nest, or it may be that, when only 

 one brood is raised in a season, the usual number may 

 be considerably exceeded. The eggs are packed in 

 closely with the pointed ends downward, and so skillfully 

 are they arranged that once removed it is practically 

 impossible to put them back again. In about twenty- 

 four days the young appear, incubation having been per- 

 formed by both sexes, chiefly, however, by the female, 

 as is natural, and the comical little downy balls, which the 

 chicks resemble, run about as soon as they escape from 

 the egg. It is not often that the female is seen while 

 incubation is progressing, but the male is frequently 

 heard as from some stump or fence in the vicinity he 

 whistles his clear " Bob White." In New England this 

 call is interpreted as " more wet " or " no more wet," 

 according to the views of the wiseheads as to the proba- 

 ble future condition of the weather. 



The young are faithfully cared for by both parents, and 

 scatter immediately at the note of alarm sounded by the 

 old birds, hiding themselves in the grass or under leaves, 

 while the parents, by the usual artifice of lameness or 

 inability to fly, draw the intruder away from the place, 

 to return again when all danger has passed. The note 



