The Ways of Bob-White 



By FRANCES M. A. ROE 



WE happen to be living at an old southern home at Port Orange, Fla., 

 for a while, that has acres of grounds, immense oak trees with quanti- 

 ties of waving Spanish 'moss, ' and where for years, birds and squirrels 

 have been welcome to the best there is, be it the buds of early peaches, or the 

 last choice persimmon. Close to one of my windows runs a picket fence, that 

 separates the yard where there are flowers, tropical shrubs and fountains, from 

 another part of the grounds where things have been left wholly to nature, and 

 where, underneath the oaks, scrub palmetto and vines are thick. After seeing 

 a beautiful gray squirrel on the fence two or three times, corn and wheat were 

 put on the window-sill, and from that day on, squirrels, Cardinals and Blue 

 Jays have been my constant guests. 



Early in August, 1908, a pair of Florida Bob-whites began to make us almost 

 daily visits, ever coming from the scrub. After seeing the birds on the window 

 a few times, the cock flew up, but the hen was shy, and much'elacking and 

 coaxing was necessary, before she could be induced to join her mate. 



The cock came alone, one day, and wishing to hear how affairs were at home, 

 he flew up on the fence, and, facing the palmettoes, commenced to call loud and 

 regularly. Just then a squirrel came along, and seated himself upon a post of 

 the fence, about three feet from the Quail. He watched and listened a minute 

 or two, but finally could stand it no longer, and slowly crept from picket to picket 

 to the Quail, when he hesitated a second, and then actually put his nose on his 

 wing, evidently trying to discover where such a tremendous noise came from! 

 The cock seemed to consider it a friendly joke, for, except to turn his head a 

 trifle the better to see him, he paid no attention whatever to the squirrel, but 

 kept up his loud whistling. The squirrel went back to his post, every hair on 

 his tail standing out straight, and there he sat in deep meditiation, until the Quail 

 flew away, when he jumped off as though something evil was after him. 



Not long after that, there was a most pathetic sight. The two Quail appeared, 

 and between them was just one little chicken. The hen looked dejected, and the 

 chick acted as though it suspected there was something wrong with this big 

 world, and kept close to its mother's wing. Possibly the little mother was think- 

 ing of a " might have been" — of an awful tragedy out in the scrub, when precious 

 eggs and snakes were horribly mixed. But the cock's head was high, and his 

 crest raised, and he plainly said "Isn't he a fine fellow." The chick was about 

 the size of a Wren, and the lack of wing and tail feathers made his legs look 

 absurdly long. 



The little family made us frequent visits for a week or more, and the chick 

 grew wonderfully fast. About this time another pair of Quail appeared, coming 

 from a different part of the grounds, and whenever the two families would happen 

 to meet here, the strange cock invariably tried to sneak up to the chick, evidently 



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