242 
ORDERS OF BIRDS— UPLAND GAME-BIRDS 
BOB-WHITE. 
As the preceding diagram shows, there are no 
true pheasants in America save those that have 
been introduced from China and Japan. All 
the birds to which that name correctly applies 
inhabit the Old World. 
THE GROUSE FAMILY. 
Tetraonidae. 
Our dear old friend the Common “ Quail ” is 
now called Rob-White 1 in all the modern bird- 
books, but to about fifty million Americans it 
is yet, and ever will be, the Quail. It is our 
longest-known and most widely known Ameri- 
can game-bird, and it is almost wholly a United 
States bird. It is at home from Maine and Flor- 
ida to Texas, the western border of Oklahoma 
and South Dakota. In very many eastern lo- 
calities, however, it has been almost exterminated 
by excessive shooting, and during the past ten 
years, Mr. Charles Payne, of Wichita, Kansas, 
has caught and shipped east fully two million 
live quail for use in restocking quailless game- 
1 Co-li'nus virginianus. Average length, 10 inches. 
preserves. The extermination of desirable spe- 
cies always costs money. 
The call of this bird is one of the most cheer- 
ful sounds in nature, and for carrying qualities 
it is far-reaching. From the heart of a hazel 
thicket one hears his loud, shrill whistle, saying 
“CLERK-*/ CLERK-*/ CLERK-*/” until 
everything rings again. On the hurricane deck 
of a high stump, or the top rail of a fence, he 
poises himself, points his bill at the sky, swells 
out his white throat and whistles long and loud, 
“Bob! bob! WHI-EET!” But the feathered 
rascal knows very well when the close season is 
on; and when the “law is off” he sings very 
small. 
That many men enjoy Quail shooting is no 
cause for wonder or reproach. The birds lie 
close in the edge of the brush until the dogs 
are ready to tread upon them, when “ Burr-r-r-r! ” 
the covey explodes in the air like a bomb, the 
gray and brown fragments fly in half a dozen 
directions, and the young sportsman is so “rat- 
tled” he is almost sure to miss. A well-scared 
Quail is no easy mark. 
Quail are rapid breeders, and in protected 
localities they increase rapidly. A good bird- 
law in Kansas has resulted in bringing back the 
vanished flocks, to a surprising extent. Un- 
fortunately, however, it is not possible to breed 
Quail in large numbers in confinement, even 
with a quarter section of land for the experi- 
ment. 
CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE. 
The flesh of this bird is a great table delicacy, — 
provided it has not been kept in cold storage. A 
cold-storage Quail is as good to the taste as a 
chunk of pressed sawdust, but no better; and 
