(Plate V.j 
THE AMERICAN QUAIL. 
Qrtyx virgin ianus, (Linn.) Bonaparate. 
The Quail is the emblem of jollity. His blithesome whistle 
resounds from the edge of the wood-lot in the cool June morn¬ 
ings,. expressing all the glad impulse of spring. He whistles with 
all his strength, and keeps at it, but his piping is not meant for 
you. It is the song with which he cheers the vigil of the wife 
who sits on the eggs down in the ferns. You may search long 
for the nest, and then go away without its discovery ; but it your 
fortune is better you learn how admirably this home is concealed 
among the herbage by the tall grasses which naturally arch over 
it, or are entwined into a dome and tunnel-like porch through 
which the bird passes to and from its cluster of white, sharp- 
pointed eggs. 
If you happen upon several of these nests, you will be surprised 
at the varying numbers of eggs which they contain — from eight to 
twenty'-eight. By and by you will learn that the Quail is polyga¬ 
mous ; that olten two or three wives answer his morning greeting 
with faint chirpings, and sit side by side at their incubation, or 
successively relieve each other’s labor. Meanwhile the male re¬ 
mains near, bringing them a seed now and then, but mainly talk¬ 
ing to them in low tones, or repeating tor a half-hour together bis 
a/i, bob-white ! But be is .always vigilant, and makes haste to warn 
his household of impending disturbance, 
About the middle of June the little Quails appear, and at once 
run about. The mother cares for them tor a few days and then 
turns them over to the father, while she prepares for a second 
brood. They follow him about, finding- food as he directs and 
learning to take care ot them selves. Should danger appear, it is 
amusing to see how instinctively they squat where they are, or dart 
under a sheltering leaf and keep quiet until they hear the par¬ 
ent's assurance of security. If the enemy be man the father 
throws himself on the ground simulating lameness and exerting 
every device to attract pursuit, hoping thus to lead the intruder 
away from his home or the tender brood, trusting in his quick- 
wings finally to save himself. 
The chicks have become I Lilly grown and strong by the time the 
September frosts come: and now the whole family, or perhaps 
two or three neighbors together, rove about, not ranging widely, 
for the Quail is not kind of long flights, but restlessly trotting 
from one field to another in a merry seeking ot food and pleasure. 
Among and underneath the fallen leaves are berries and broken 
nuts: in this corner they find a bunch of grasses whose panicles 
still hold their store of tiny seeds; there a weed with an unbroken 
capsule which they must stand on tip-toe to crush with their stout 
beaks ; the next field is buckwheat stubble ; beyond it corn ; on the 
other side of the lane barley. So these gleaners travel about the 
farm, skirting the edges that they may easily retreat if need be to 
the shelter ot the wood-, or briers, yet so overflowing with careless 
glee that again and again you hear their happy call and listen to 
patch the answers of other bevies. Sometimes the Quails will come 
out upon the wayside, — a plump cock watching you with keen 
black eyes from the top of the wall as you approach along the 
country road : or, in the coldest weather, they will even make 
friends with cattle and door-yard fowls to share the housewife's 
bounty until the snow-drifts disappear. 
It is in these brown autumn days that the sportsman seeks 
them, but he must he a sure and quick shot who takes their lives. 
With the suddenness of a flash of light, and a whirring murmur 
that will eonluse any but the best-trained nerves, springs the Quail 
from his hiding and like an arrow at its target darts straight to 
some better covert. When a covey has thus been dispersed by the 
gunner, they remain motionless until their alarm has subsided. 
Then you hear them calling to one another from different points 
in the field until the survivors are reunited. 
At night the Quails retire to the thickets, and in a little circle, 
with heads all turned outward, they- huddle together and keep 
each other warm. Quails do not migrate, rarely wandering far 
from the hill-side where they were born. They spend the winter, 
therefore, in the Northern States; yet often heavy and long-con¬ 
tinued snow-storms prove fatal to them throughout a whole, dis¬ 
trict, particularly if followed by a thaw and sudden freezing, which 
forms a crust through which they cannot burst up from their 
roosting place, and are therefore starved. 
The American Quail is known in the Southern States as the 
“ Partrid ge — a name which is contusing and inappropriate. 
The species is found over the whole of the Eastern United States 
south ot Massachusetts. In California there are several other 
species, distinguished by wearing smart plumes on the top of the 
head. Their dress otherwise is more gaudy than Bub White's ; 
but who Would exchange for them the dear little creature whose 
happy voice salutes us in short quaint phrase from every rural field 1 
