GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 
115 
KEY TO ADULT FEMALE COLINU8. 
1. Under parts narrowly barred with black . . . virginianus, p. 115„ 
T. Under parts broadly barred with black. 
2. Belly more heavily barred, cinnamon chest band usually more 
marked. ridgwayi, p. 116. 
2 '. Belly less heavily barred; cinnamon chest band usually less marked. 
texanus, p. 116. 
289. Colinus virginianus (Linn.). Bob-white. 
Adult male . — Line through eye white ; throat white, bordered below 
by black; rest of under parts buffy or brown¬ 
ish — reddish brown on sides — narrowly barred 
with black; upper parts reddish brown and 
black ; scapulars, tertials, and lower back strik¬ 
ingly blotched with black. Adult female: like 191, 
male, but black of head replaced by brown, and white by buffy. Young : 
upper parts rusty, more or less spotted with black, and feathers with white 
shaft streaks widening at tip; breast grayish or brownish, streaked with 
white; throat and belly whitish. Length : 9.50-10.75, wing 4.55, tail 2.70, 
bill .59. 
Distribution. — Resident in Transition and Upper Sonoran zones in east¬ 
ern United States, and spreading from Nebraska and Texas westward ; 
also since introduction, in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, California, 
Oregon, and Washington. 
Nest. —A saucer-shaped excavation in the ground, sometimes domed, 
but usually sheltered by bushes or weeds, and lined with dry grass or stub¬ 
ble. Eggs: 12 to 18, dull white. 
Food. — Insects, grain, weed seed, beechnuts, and wild berries. 
No picture of early spring among the farms, with the fields of dry 
cornstalks and the smoky, budding wood-lots, marked off by rail 
fences, is complete without an occasional stiff whirr of wings in the 
brush, a scudding of quick feet in the rustling leaves, and the distant 
clear whistle, bob-white. 
The quail are in pairs now, and unless near enough together for 
their low conversational quit, quirk, queet, are sure to be calling back 
and forth in loud whistles from the fence tops, the stone piles, or 
low branches of trees. A little later the calling is hushed and the 
male may be seen hurrying about alone, or the two running mys¬ 
teriously under the bushes ; and still later there is a flock of little 
brown fluffy chicks to be led and guarded. By themselves they 
are a quiet, happy family, but when an intruder appears, all is excite¬ 
ment and confusion. There are two sputtering, fluttering, scolding 
old birds trying to lure or scare you away in several directions at 
once, and there is a scurrying flock of chicks, under your feet one 
moment, gone the next. They take to their heels now, but in a 
short time their quills sprout, and then when disturbed they take to 
wing like a lot of bumblebees. 
As the summer passes the broods often join in larger flocks, and 
when they get scattered the call-whistle, bob-white, is heard again 
