OF NEW ENGLAND. 393 
more kinds, which often render their flesh unwholesome and 
poisonous. As spring opens, they often eat the buds of apple- 
trees and birches, of both of which they are particularly fond. 
They are able to endure an excessive degree of cold, and, so 
long as they can find sufficient food, they do not apparently 
suffer from severe winters; but some perish, like the Quail, 
from being caught beneath the crust of the snow, under which, 
as it falls, they frequently lie, contrary to their habit of roost- 
ing in trees. 
The flight of the Ruffed Grouse, when well under way, is 
very rapid, and undoubtedly these birds sometimes accomplish 
even the first forty yards of their flight in a second. They 
usually rise rather slowly, especially in thick woods, and at 
first afford an easy mark, unless late in the season, when, with 
a clear path, they go off with great speed. Having reached the 
level of the tree-tops, a few yards suffice for headway, and the 
latter part of their flight, extended sometimes to several hun- 
dred yards, is usually made with very little motion of the 
wings. 
(d). The ordinary note of the “ Partridges” are a chuck or 
clucking, and the whining ¢all of the hen to her young. 
§ 81. Perdicide. Partridges. (See § 29.) 
I. ORTYX ‘ 
(A) vireinianus. Quail. Partridge. ‘Bob White.” 
(In south-eastern New England, a’common resident.) 
(a). About nine inches long. ¢, with the crown-feathers 
somewhat erectile. Chief tint, reddish or chestnut-brown, some- 
what restricted on the head, wanting on the tail and middle of 
the under parts, but becoming chestnut-red on the sides. Head, 
with much black, but with the throat, forehead, superciliary 
line, and edging of the lower feathers, white. Upper parts 
marked with black, gray, and tawny. Tail gray, scarcely 
marked ; quills browner, slightly mottled with tawny. Breast, 
etc., waved or barred with black; belly, chiefly white, and less 
marked. 9, with tints less bright, etc.; the throat, etc., buff. 
(0). The nest is not unlike that of the Ruffed Grouse, but 
