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American quails or partridges 

 differ in size from the partridges 

 and quails of Europe. They are 

 smaller than the old world partridges, 

 and larger than the little migratory 

 quail. The five genera and thirteen 

 species found in North America are all handsome game birds, 

 excellent in the field and on the table; one of them, the bob- 

 white, I regard as the best game bird in the world. 



There are many forms of bob-white, which have been clas- 

 sified as sub-species by the ornithologists. Some of these 

 inhabit Mexico. Within the United States we have two 

 species, the ordinary quail or partridge of the Northern states 

 and the masked or black-throated bob-white which is found in 

 hmited numbers in Southern Arizona and more abundant in 

 Sonora, Mexico. The sub-species are the Texas bob-white, 

 a somewhat smaller bird and lighter in color than the Northern 

 form and the Florida bob-white which is much darker and some- 

 what smaller than the Northern bob-white. They all, includ- 

 ing the masked bob-white, have similar habits, lie well to the 

 dog and equally well on the plate, and they all sound the 

 cheery notes, "Bob- White," in the mating season. Our birds 

 are more similar in their appearance and habits to the European 

 partridges than they are to the old-world quails, which are 

 migratory. In Virginia and the South the birds are more 

 often called partridges; in the Northern states they are called 



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