XVII. 



A CHAT ABOUT BOB WHITE. 



T^HE American partridges {Perdicidm) have been separated from the 

 -*- Old World partridges into a sub-family (Odontqphorince), of which 

 we have five genera. Most of these, however, are restricted to the ex- 

 treme south-west, and. there is but one species found throughout the 

 eastern half of the Union— the common " quail," as it is called in the 

 Northern States; "partridge," as it is dubbed at the South; and "Bob 

 White," as it is recognized everywhere — whose scientific name is Ortyx 

 virginianus. 



The trisyllabic call of the quail is suggestive of a song ; its strong, 

 short flight recommends it to the gunner ; its delicate flesh is toothsome 

 to epicures; its habits and history are full of interest to everybody — 

 even to.the poets, for whom the lark, the robin, and half a dozen other 

 singing-birds usually suffice. 



The quails remain in the upland grain-fields and open woods the year 

 round, even on the upper Missouri where the mercury falls to 30° below 

 zero, wandering about in bevies, and feeding upon anything palatable. 

 It would perhaps be more accurate to say that some quails are to be 

 found in such situations the year round, since it is probable that in the 

 northern portions of their range they move southward, for the most part. 

 In the South, however, their migrations — if they may properly be termed 

 so — are local and irregular, and not general, as are the great flights of 

 the migrating quail of eastern Europe. Ours are restless, uneasy birds, 

 attached to one place while rearing their family, but immediately upon 

 the brood becoming able to travel commencing their wanderings. There 

 is no accounting for these movements, which sometimes deprive a whole 

 district of their presence for a time, to populate an adjacent region pre- 

 viously without them. One of the few examples of any regularity of 

 movement on record is the assertion that every fall quails cross the Missis- 

 sippi, from the Kentucky to the Missouri shore, in large numbers, stopping 

 to rest at Island No. 10. It has also been stated that, when such journeys 



