THE QUAIL, BOBWHITE 
[, HE boy so fortunate as to live in the 
44 country should have a flock of pet quail. 
These are most interesting and valuable 
are during the winter season they become 
so tame that they will stay on the farm 
like poultry. 
The Bobwhite likes open fields, with 
brushy fence-corners, or other low bushes near at hand 
for protection fromstorm,andenemies. Inthematter 
of their food, quail are wholly beneficial to the farmer; 
in the spring and summer they feed upon insects, 
and in the fall and winter on the seeds of weeds and 
waste grain. The pretty song—‘‘Bobwhite,’”’ or 
““More-wet,”’ or ““Buckwheat,”’ variously translated, 
is the courting note of the male. He sends it out 
over the fields from some fence post, or other high 
point, and the song is appreciated by the little 
quail hen hiding in the grass, and soon the pair set 
up housekeeping. The nest is made upon the 
ground, under a bunch of grass, or some bush, 
especially a briery one. It is a rather simple nest 
made of grasses, and in it are laid from ten to eighteen 
pure white eggs, very pointed at the small end. 
The father quail helps the mother in the incubation. 
In about twenty-four days the young quails hatch; 
they are fluffy little things, and after a day or two 
are quite able to follow their parents about in quest 
of food. They are obedient creatures,—the moment 
the mother gives a warning note that the enemy is 
near, they lie flat, hidden among the grass and 
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