2 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Pacific Railroad, about latitude 46° ; also that in South Dakota it is abundant, 

 and has advanced to latitude 44° 30'. 1 



North of the United States Mr. T. Mcllwraith gives it as a permanent resi- 

 dent in southern Ontario, Canada. 2 



At the present time the Bob Whites are most abundant in the Central and 

 some of the Southern States. They have also been successfully introduced in 

 various localities in the West. According to information received from Mr. 

 Denis Gale, of Gold Hill, Boulder County, Colorado, it is now well established 

 along the South Platte River and its tributaries in the vicinity of Denver, Colo- 

 rado, and is known to occur also in portions of northern New Mexico. . 



As early as 1872 Prof. J. A. Allen stated in the American Naturalist that 

 these birds had recently been introduced in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah, 

 and that in the summer of 1871 young had been raised and gave promise of 

 multiplying rapidly and becoming thoroughly naturalized. At the present time 

 they are common in various parts of Utah, and Professor Allen's predictions 

 have been fully verified. According to Mr. H. K. Taylor the Bob Whites are 

 quite abundant about Gilroy, California. 3 



In the vicinity of Boise" City, Idaho, a few pairs were turned out some 

 time in 1875. In the fall of 1878 I found them abundant between that point 

 and Snake River, all along the Boise" River, and in 1882 they had spread to 

 the west side of Snake River, fully 50 miles from where they were first liber- 

 ated. Dr. T. E. Wilcox, U. S. Army, who first noticed them there, says, "I 

 never saw coveys so large and numerous as I found them about Boise". Cover 

 and food, as well as climate, are all favorable." 4 



They are also quite abundant now in portions of the Willamette Valley, 

 Oregon, as well as on several islands in Puget Sound, Washington. In fact, 

 they are well adapted for introduction into any country where the climate is 

 not too severe in winter, and where suitable food and shelter are to be found, 

 they seem to thrive and adapt themselves to the surroundings. 



Excepting, perhaps, in its extreme northern range, the Bob Whites are 

 residents, and breed wherever found. They are partial to more or less open 

 country. Fields and pastures, interspersed with small bodies of woodland, 

 country roads, bordered by brush and briar patches, as well as the edges of 

 meadow and lowlands, are its favorite abiding places. In southern Louisiana 

 they are very partial to the borders of hammock land and open pine woods. 



They are never found in large packs; each covey generally keeps to itself, 

 and rarely moves far from the place where it was raised. The mating season 

 commences in April, when the coveys or such portions of them remaining 

 begin to break up, each pair selecting a suitable nesting site. Nidification 

 begins usually about May 1 ; in the Southern States somewhat earlier, and in 



'Report on Bird Migration of the Mississippi Valley, Bull, n, U. S. Dept. of Agric, Div. Economic 

 Ornith., p. 102. 



2 Birds of Ontario, pp. 140, 141. 



'Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. iv, 1889, p. 93. 



< Auk, Vol. n, 1885, p. 315. 



