326 USEFUL BIRDS. 



on account of the great accession to the number of gunners. 

 The Quail is not easily extirpated, for, unlike the Wood- 

 cock, it waits until the weather is mild before beginning its 

 nest ; and it is very prolific, and sometimes rears more than 

 one brood in a season . From twenty-four to forty-two eggs 

 are said to have been found in a single nest, but these were 

 probably the product of more than one bird. 



The pure strain of the old race of Massachusetts Quail is 

 believed to have been practically eliminated by shooting and 

 winter killing, and most of the birds now existing in the 

 State are supposed to represent a mongrel race, — an admix- 

 ture of the blood of Massachusetts birds and those of the 

 south and west. Some naturalists assert, however, that no 

 introduced southern birds survive their first winter in Massa- 

 chusetts ; but Mr. H. H. Kimball, secretary of the Massachu- 

 setts Fish and Game Protective Association, who has been 

 instrumental in introducing and "planting" many of these 

 birds, has trustworthy evidence that in some cases at least 

 they have wintered well and become established. 



The breeding season of the Bob- white extends through May, 

 June, and July, and the males may be heard calling occasion- 

 ally as late as the first of October. According to Dr. Judd, 

 Mr. Robert Ridgway found a clutch of freshly deposited 

 eggs in a nest in southern Illinois on October 16, and H. C. 

 Munger found another set in Missouri in January. The 

 parent bird was found, later, frozen on the nest. This seems 

 to indicate a latent tendency, like that of the domestic fowl, 

 to lay eggs at any season of the year, — a trait which might 

 give added value to the species in domestication. The nest 

 is usually made in grass land, in some old field, or in a 

 bushy thicket along its border, and is often well concealed. 



Young Quail are said to run about the moment they are 

 hatched. While this may be an exaggeration, probably all 

 the eggs in a litter are hatched at about the same time, and 

 the young birds are able to leave the nest very soon after- 

 ward. The first downy chicks are usually seen in July. 

 They are very small, and are streaked somewhat like Bantam 

 or Brown Leghorn chicks. Their protective coloring is such 

 as to render them invisible when motionless on the ground, 



