608 AVES—AMERICAN QUAIL. 
with her wings, as if sorely wounded ; using every artifice she is mistress 
of, to entice the passenger in pursuit of herself, uttering at the same time 
peculiar notes of alarm well understood by the young, who dive separately 
among the grass, and secrete themselves till the danger is over; and the 
parent, having decoyed the pursuer to a safe distance, returns bya circuitous 
route to collect and lead them off. 
Tn the fall, the quails associate in flocks or coveys, of four or five and 
thirty. At this time the notes of the male are frequent, loud, and distinct. 
His common call consists of two notes, and is similar to the sound produced 
py pronouncing the words “Bob White.” This call may be imitated by 
whistling, so as to deceive the bird itself, and bring it near. While uttering 
this, the bird is usually perched on the rail of a fence or on a low limb of an 
apple tree, where he will sometimes sit, repeating, at short intervals, ‘‘ Bob 
White,” for half an hour at a time. 
The food of the partridge consists of grain, seeds, insects, and berries of 
various kinds. Buckwheat and Indian corn are particular favorites. They 
roost at nigh. in the middle of a field on high ground. They fly witha 
loud whizzing sound, occasioned by the shortness, concavity, and rapid mo- 
tion of their wings, and the comparative weight of their bodies. The flesh 
is peculiarly white, tender, and delicate. 
The quail is nine inches long. It is of a red brown color, sprinkled with 
black. The under parts are white, spotted with black, and the sides of the 
neck spotted with white. 
