156 BIRDS 



The birds thrive in cultivated sections and are practi- 

 cally domesticated, but frequently desert a nest of eggs 

 when the sitting bird has been flushed or nest disturbed. 

 Both male and female assist in the duties of incubation, 

 which trait is uncommon among gallinaceous birds. Two 

 broods are frequently reared in a season; the first setting 

 is begun in April, and another nest of eggs may often be 

 found late in June, or as far into the summer as early 

 August. The young run about as soon as hatched. 



The Florida bob-white is a sub-species confined to the 

 southeastern part of the United States. It is somewhat 

 darker in plumage. Another variation in plumage, known 

 as the Texas bob-white, may be found inhabiting Texas 

 and New Mexico. These birds are slightly smaller in size, 

 and the peculiar old rose tint found in the plumage of our 

 common bob-white is replaced by gray in this species. 



THE MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE* 



This, one of the most beautiful of the partridges, is 

 much larger and handsomer than bob-white, though per- 

 haps not so interesting or attractive as a game bird. The 

 pretty plumes are noticeable in the chick just from the 

 egg, in the form of a little tuft of down, and their growth 

 is gradual until the perfect plumage of the adult is 

 obtained. 



The Mountain Partridge is found breeding along the 

 Pacific Coast region from California north into Washing- 

 ton. According to the observ-^er Emerson, it is found nest- 

 ing in the higher moimtain ranges, not below four thousand 



