12 BOBWHITE AND OTHER QUAILS OF UNITED STATES. 



on May 29, and the first downy chicks on July 6. Between the end 

 of June and last of August seven pairs of birds were found there 

 which had recently mated or were incubating. This was shown by 

 the fact that the cock birds were flushed thirty-six times and the 

 hens only four times. During the same season five nests were found 

 between July 15 and 19 at Sandy Spring, Md., less than 20 miles 

 away. One of these nests contained 24 eggs. Even larger clutches 

 are recorded, and one nest found at Woodstock, Ohio, is reported 

 to have contained 42 eggs." Such large clutches probably are the 

 product of more than one bird. In 1903 nesting appeared to be 

 later than in 1902, as the first eggs found were discovered July 10. 

 The farmers at Marshall Hall say that they usually find the first 

 downy chicks during wheat harvest, usually the last week of June. 

 A number of broods of chicks were seen about Marshall Hall from 

 July to September. 



The newly hatched young have chocolate-streaked heads, and re- 

 semble small black and red bantam chicks. Whenever these newly 

 hatched chicks remain motionless their protective coloration renders 

 them invisible unless one makes a most careful search. 



From information at hand it appears that the main breeding season 

 for bobwhite in the Northern States, including the country about 

 Washington, D. C., is during May, June, and the first half of July. 

 Florida birds begin to breed regularly the first of April (though some 

 are much earlier), and continue nesting till well into June. Texas 

 birds nest mainly in April and May, but some nest as late as Septem- 

 ber. Throughout its range some of the birds breed earlier and others 

 later than the main body of the species, and the occurrence of second 

 or even third broods may lengthen the season. Robert Ridgway 

 found a clutch of freshly deposited eggs in southern Illinois on 

 October 16, and H. C. Munger found another set in Missouri in Jan- 

 uary, the parent being afterwards found frozen on the nest. Authen- 

 tic records from various parts of its range show that bobwhite has 

 been known to breed, at least occasionallj'^, somewhere in its range 

 every month of the year except December. This seems to prove that 

 under, certain circumstances bobwhite, like the domestic hen, will 

 lay a clutch of eggs at any time of year. 



The occasional presence with the female of young of two or three 

 sizes appears to show that at least two broods are sometimes raised 

 in a season, but we lack definite information on this subject. Major 

 Bendire gives twenty-four days as the period of incubation. The 

 male is reported as sometimes assisting in this dutv. 



o Forest and Stream, X, p. 399, 1878. 



