438 THE BOB- WHITE. 



ing fellow on forehead, becoming buffy on hind-neck ; a broad, black stripe below 

 eye and across auriculars coalescing behind with narrow breast-band of same 

 color ; enclosed space pure white; breast and belly white or buffy white, narrowly 

 and finely cross-barred with black, usually with disconnected brace-shaped mark- 

 ings; chest mingled heavily or slightly with vinaceous-rufoufi below the black 

 band; sides and flanks broadly striped with cinnamon-rufous, marked with black 

 and white and blending with pattern of wing; bill black. Adult female: Similar 

 to male, but throat and superciliary line • deep buff instead of white ; black of 

 throat, cheek-band, and crown merely indicated by blackish spots ; general colora- 

 tion a little more subdued. This bird varies interminably within the limits laid 

 down ; no two birds are exactly, ahke, and albinistic and melanotic specimens are 

 not rare. Spring birds are brighter colored than fall specimens. Length "9.50- 

 10.75" (241-3-273.1); av. of six Columbus mal.es: wing 4.33 (no.); tail 2.33 

 (59.2) ; bill .56 (14.2). Females average a little smaller than males. 



Recognition Marks. — Robin size; stocky proportions; terrestrial habits; 

 swift, whirring flight, etc. 



Nest, on the ground, a mere depression, indifferently lined with grasses, 

 leaves, etc. Bggs, 10-26, usually about 18, white, pure or nest-stained; pyriform- 

 ovate. Av. size, 1.20 x .94 (30.5 x 23.9). 



General Range. — Eastern United States and Southern Ontario, from south- 

 ern Maine to the South Atlantic and Gulf States, west to central South Dakota, 

 Kansas, eastern Texas, etc. It is recently extending its range westward along 

 lines of settlement, and has been successfully introduced into various western and 

 Pacific states. 



Range in Ohio. — Common resident throughout the state. 



THERE is an interesting parallel between Bob-white and civilized man. 

 Both have come of a polygamous ancestry: indeed, both can point to con- 

 temporary polygamous ancestors. Out of these primitive conditions Bob- 

 white has grown to be' quite "civilized," in his family relations as exemplary 

 as any that polite society can boast. He is a model parent, willing to sacrifice 

 his own life for the brood. The late Judge J. N. Clarke, of Saybrook, Conn., 

 has proved that at least in one instance the male cared for and completed 

 the incubation of the second nestful oi eggs while his wife raised the first 

 brood of youngsters. He was shot in the act of protecting his brood. There 

 is an interesting question, just here, which I have not seen answered : When 

 two broods are reared, do the broods remain separate during the winter, under 

 the care of one parent, or do they unite? 



Bob-white's ringing call has very appropriately become his name. By 

 it he is known in literature, in spite of the misnomer "Quail," which the sports- 

 men and careless observers have heaped upon him. He is wholly American, 

 and is no near relative of the European Quail. Either there is a good deal 

 of poetic fancy in rendering the whistled call "Bob-white," or "more wet," 

 or else the whistle is untranslatable. However that may be, one has no diffi- 

 culty in recognizing the call. There is no doubt that the call was considered 

 by the first writers to be prophetic of the weather, and no doubt many still 



