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PICTURES OF BIRD LIFE. 
then said to have lost their voice. The nest is generally found among clover or 
long grass, and consists of a mere hollow in the ground lined with dry grass and 
moss. The eggs, from seven to twelve in number, are white, tinged with yellowish- 
red, speckled with brown. The female sits upon them three weeks, and the young 
follow her as soon as they leave the shell, commencing at once to feed upon 
seeds, grain, insects, and green leaves.” * 
This life-history of the Quail may be fitly closed with an account of the 
American Quail’s curious custom of lying close during snow. The same habit on a 
smaller scale prevails with our common partridge, multitudes of which are killed every 
severe winter by poachers, who take advantage of this peculiarity. “ It is the habit 
of this bird to lie still, squatted in concentric ‘ huddles,’ as they are technically called, 
composed of the whole bevy, seated like the radii of a circle with their tails inward, 
so long as snow, sleet, or rain continues to fall. So soon as it clears off, and the 
sun shines out, with a simultaneous effort, probably at a preconcerted signal, they all 
spring up at once with an impetus and rush so powerful as to carry them clear through 
a snow-drift many feet in depth; unless it be skinned over by a frozen crust, which 
is not to be penetrated by their utmost efforts. In this latter case, where the storm 
has been general over a large extent of country, the Quail are not unfrequently so near 
to extinction that but a bevy or two will be seen for years on ground where they 
have been previously found in abundance; and at such times if they be not spared 
and cherished, as they will be by all true sportsmen, they may be destroyed entirely 
thoroughout a whole region.” f 
* “Sport in Many Lands,” Vol. I., p. 321. 
+ Herbert’s “Field Sports in the United States,” Vol. I., p. 227. 
CASSELL, FETTER, GALPIN & CO., BELLE SAUVAGE WORKS, LONDON, E.C. 
