26 Bird Portraits 



and buried by the snow, like the people of Pompeii buried under 

 the falling ashes. 



In May, the male begins to whistle the two or three clear notes 

 which have been translated into " Bob-white," or " More wet." This 

 call is not only a summons to the female, but also a challenge to 

 other males; if one hides near by and imitates the whistle accurately 

 enough, a sudden flight will sometimes bring the angry bird directly 

 to the spot. The surprise of the visitor is then amusing enough. 

 Stone walls, fences, the low limbs of trees are favorite perches for 

 the male, and his cheerful call has long been a familiar sound in 

 farming country, from Massachusetts southward. 



The nest is placed in some tangle of blackberry vines, along 

 the edge of a field, and is a sight worth a long journey to see. The 

 pure white eggs, often as many as fifteen, are laid close together 

 in such a manner that the little body of the female may cover and 

 warm them all. When the young are hatched, they are covered 

 with down, and run at once, like chickens, and unlike the little blind 

 naked young which we see in the nests of song birds. They follow 

 their mother through the tangled grass or low bushes, feeding on 

 fruit and insects, and later on the grain in the stubble fields. The 

 whole family keep together, even when the young are able to care 

 for themselves. When they hear any danger approaching, they keep 

 close to the ground, relying on their brown coloring to conceal them. 

 If the danger comes too near, they are off in half a dozen directions, 

 over walls and bushes, coming quickly to earth again when they 

 see some sheltering covert. Then, after an interval, one hears a note 

 something like a guinea hen's, issuing from different parts of the 

 field. Guided by these sounds, the whole covey reassemble. 



