THE AMERICAN QUAIL. 263 
poultry, render them familiar to all men, women, boys 
and fools throughout the regions which they inhabit. 
It is stated by ornithologists, that they abound from 
Nova Scotia and the northern parts of Canada to Florida 
and the Great Osage villages; but this is incorrect, as 
they rarely are seen eastward of Massachusetts ; never in 
Nova Scotia, or Canada East; and range so far as Texas 
and the edges of the great American salt desert. The 
adult male bird differs from the hen in having its chaps 
and a remarkable gorget on the throat and lower neck, 
pure white, bordered with jetty black; which parts in 
the young male and the adult female, are bright reddish- 
yellow ; the upper parts of both are beautifully dashed 
and freckled with chestnut and mahogany-brown, black, 
yellow, gray, and pure white; the under parts pure 
white, longitudinally dashed with brownish red, and 
transversely streaked with black arrow-headed marks. 
The colors of the male are all brighter, and more defi- 
nite, than in the female. 
Everywhere eastward of the Delaware the Quail is 
resident, never rambling far from the haunts in which 
he is bred. Everywhere to the westward he is in the 
later autumn migratory, moving constantly on foot, and 
never flying. except when flushed or compelled to cross 
streams and water-courses, from the west eastward; the 
farther west, the more marked is this peculiarity. 
The Quail pairs early in March; begins to lay early 
in May, in anest made on the surface of the ground, 
. 
