3 66 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
sound of its calls in the laying season, and also parti'idge , which latter title 
is so inappropriate as to belong entirely to another and larger species. It is 
found throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and in some 
places in the West, especially Arkansas and Southern Missouri, it is quite 
numerous. Like squirrels, quails occasionally migrate, apparently assembling 
at one common rendezvous and departing together, at which time nothing will 
stay their flight except exhaustion. When I was a boy I saw two migrations 
of quails , both in the same direction, coming from Kentucky and crossing the 
Ohio into Illinois. The river, at the place where I lived, was fully one mile 
wide, which was too great a flight for thousands to make without resting, so 
that they fell into the river near the western shore in great numbers, some 
reaching the bank by swimming, while others perished, besides those captured 
by persons in skiffs. But there are now so few compared with their number 
in former years, while the country is so well settled, that it is not probable 
similar migrations will be witnessed hereafter. 
The quail loves cultivated fields where is found an increased food sup¬ 
ply of both grain and insects. It builds upon the ground, within the grass or 
ripening wheat, and lays from a dozen to eighteen eggs. The instant the 
young are hatched they are ready for energetic action and can run with sur¬ 
prising swift¬ 
ness. Indeed, 
the young 
may some¬ 
times be seen 
running about 
with a part of 
the shell still 
sticking to the 
back. In the 
an enemy foieed. process of in¬ 
cubation both 
parents perform a part, so, too, when the numerous broods are hatched out 
do the parents gather the chicks under their wings at night or in bad 
weather, at which time they sit with their tails together in a rather unfamiliar 
attitude. Yet they are very affectionate, as well as cunning. The male 
is courageous in defence of his family, and the mother is very adroit in 
her efforts to prevent the exposure of her brood. She will feign lameness and 
flutter along barely out of reach of a person or foe until she has led him a 
sufficient distance from her chicks which, in the mean time, lie hidden among 
the grass. When she thinks the danger past she takes wing and flies in a 
direction opposite to the place where her brood is concealed, and sometime after 
calls them together. When the young are three weeks old they are able to fly, 
and rise promptly on an alarm being given by the parent, and thereafter the family 
will always be found together, whether upon the wing or running along the 
ground. 
Many attempts have been made to domesticate the quail , but invariably 
with poor results. A great many broods have been hatched out by domestic 
hens, but after a few weeks, or months at most, the young always desert their 
foster-parents and go to the woods to return no more. The male quail is a 
