60 THE COMMON AMERICAN PARTRIDGE. 



ordinary size, where they remain until danger is over. They walk with 

 ease on the branches. If they perceive that they are observed, they raise 

 the feathers of their head, emit a low note, and fly off either to some higher 

 branch of the same tree, or to another tree at a distance. When these birds 

 rise on wing of their own accord, the whole flock takes the same course; but 

 when put up (in the sportsman's phrase), they disperse, after alighting call 

 to each other, and soon after unite, each running or flying towards the well- 

 known cry of the patriarch of the covey. During deep and continued snows, 

 they often remain on the branches of trees for hours at a time. 



The usual cry of this species is a clear whistle, composed of three notes; 

 the first and last nearly equal in length, the latter less loud than the first, but 

 more so than the intermediate one. When an enemy is perceived they 

 immediately utter a lisping note, frequently repeated, and run off with their 

 tail spread, their crest erected, and their wings drooping, towards the shelter 

 of some thicket or the top of a fallen tree. At other times, when one of the 

 flock has accidentally strayed to a distance from its companions, it utters two 

 notes louder than any of those mentioned above, the first shorter and lower 

 than the second, when an answer is immediately returned by one of the 

 pack. This species has moreover a love-call, which is louder and clearer 

 than its other notes, and can be heard at a distance of several hundred yards. 

 It consists of three distinct notes, the two last being loudest, and is peculiar 

 to the male bird. A fancied similarity to the words Bob White renders 

 this call familiar to the sportsman and farmer; but these notes are always 

 preceded by another, easily heard at a distance of thirty or forty yards. 

 The three together resemble the words Jih Bob White. The first note is a 

 kind of aspiration, and the last is very loud and clear. This whistle is 

 seldom heard after the breeding season, during which an imitation of the 

 peculiar note of the female will make the male fly towards the sportsman, 

 who may then easily shoot it. 



In the Middle Districts, the love-call of the male is heard about the 

 middle of April, and in Louisiana much earlier. The male is seen perched 

 on a fence-stake, or on the low branch of a tree, standing nearly in the same 

 position for hours together, and calling Ah Bob White at every interval of 

 a few minutes. Should he hear the note of a female, he sails directly 

 towards the spot whence it proceeded. Several males may be heard from 

 different parts of a field challenging each other, and should they meet on the 

 ground, they fight with great courage and obstinacy, until the conqueror 

 drives off his antagonist to another field. 



The female prepares a nest composed of grasses, arranged in a circular 

 form, leaving an entrance not unlike that of a common oven. It is placed 

 at the foot of a tuft of rank grass or some close stalks of corn, and is partly 



