7<y Bird Life Stories 



than any of those mentioned above, the first shorter and lower 

 than the second, when an answer is immediately returned by 

 one of the pack. This species has moreover a love call, which 

 is louder and clearer than its other notes and can be heard at 

 a distance of several hundred yards. It consists of three 

 distinct notes, the last two being loudest, and is peculiar to 

 the male bird. A fancied similarity to the words "bob white" 

 render this call familiar to the sportsman and farmer, but 

 these notes are always preceded by another easily heard at a 

 distance of thirty or forty yards. The three together resemble 

 the words ah-bob-white. The first note is a kind of aspiration, 

 and the last is very loud and clear. This whistle is seldom 

 heard after the breeding season, during which an imitation of 

 the peculiar note of the female will make the male fly toward 

 the sportsman. 



In the middle districts the love call of the male is heard 

 about the middle of April, and in Louisiana much earlier. 

 The male is seen perching on a fence-stake or on the low 

 branch of a tree, standing nearly in the same position for 

 hours together and calling ah-bob-white at every interval of a 

 few minutes. Should he hear the note of a female he sails 

 directly toward the spot whence it proceeded. Several males 

 may be heard from different parts of a field challenging each 

 other, and should they meet on the ground they fight with 

 great courage and obstinacy until the conqueror drives off his 

 antagonist to another field. 



The female prepares a nest composed of grasses, arranged 

 in a circular form, leaving an entrance not unlike that of a 

 common oven. It is placed at the foot of a tuft of rank grass 

 or some close stalks of corn, and is partly sunk in the ground. 

 The eggs are from ten to eighteen, rather sharp at the smaller 

 end, and of a pure white. The male at times assists in hatch- 



