BOB WHITE. 141 



little fellow on my orchard fence, standing guard over 

 his wife and home, said: "Bob White!" and, as if eager 

 to emphasize the name, repeated: "Bob, Bob White!" A 

 mocking-bird on the swaying branch of an immense pin- 

 oak reiterated: "Bob White! Bob White!" It seemed to 

 me a way out of the difficulty. The bird so called him- 

 self, the most versatile of all Nature's conversationalists 

 indorsed the name, and I, too, would, like the mocking- 

 bird, become an imitator, and in this article follow the 

 suggestion of Mr. Mayer. 



1 am further fortified in this position by the action of 

 the American Ornithological Union, in their "Check List 

 of American Birds," where they reject the name quail, 

 and place the bird in the subfamily Perdicinae, or par- 

 tridges, a summary of their classification being as fol- 

 lows: 



Order OalUnae — gallinaceous birds. 



Suborder Phasiani — pheasants, grouse, partridges, 

 quails, etc. 



Family Tetraonidae — grouse, partridges, etc. 



Subfamily Perdicinae — partridges. 



Genus Colinus. 



Species Golinus virginianus — Bob White. 



Subspecies Colinus virginianus Jloridanus — Florida 

 Bob White. 



Colinus virginianus texanus — Texan Bob White. 



There seems to be little or no difference between the 

 Yirginia, the Florida, and the Texas Bob Whites except 

 their habitat and color, the Florida bird being the darkest 

 and the Texas bird the lightest of the three. The Vir- 

 ginia Bob White is also, probably, the largest bird, but the 

 size of each varies somewhat with the character of the 

 food, it being said that birds which are found in a coun- 

 try devoted to small grains are larger than those, found 

 elsewhere. 



