FIELD BIRDS 121 



while a few, like the Shrike, live solitary and alone. 



But the Bob-white family is too happy to be sepa- 

 rated. The children left the nest soon after leaving 

 the egg, and have become accustomed to traveling 

 about with their parents. They do not migrate and 

 doubtless do not therefore feel that restlessness which 

 induces other birds to leave their home. 



Day after day, therefore, they are never more 

 than a few feet apart, feeding contentedly side by 

 side from the wood borders, through the surround- 

 ing brush lots into the stubble fields, resting in the 

 hedgerows at noon and gradually working back 

 toward their sleeping place in the evening. Then 

 they all get, as it were, into one bed, roosting In a 

 tight little circle on the ground, tail to tail, heads out, 

 so that if sudden flight should be necessary they 

 could all take wing without danger of a collision. 



Sometimes the falling snow gently spreads a white 

 covering over the sleeping birds, who, if there be 

 no fall in temperature, can easily throw it aside in 

 the morning. But should the snow be succeeded by 

 a drizzling rain, which freezes as it falls, the birds 

 are imprisoned and their bed becomes their grave. 



I have never flushed a flock of Bob-whites during 

 the night, but I can imagine that it would be a very 

 nerve-trying experience for all concerned. It is cer- 



