VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE. 297 
eare. Wilson mentions a curious anecdote of some young 
ones which had been hatched under a hen, and which, 
‘when abandoned by her, associated with the cows, which 
they regularly followed to the fields, returned with them 
when they came home in the evening, stood by them while 
they were milked, and again accompanied them to the 
pasture. ‘These remained during the winter, lodging in the 
stable, but as soon as spring came they disappeared.’ 
Of a cock bird, one of a pair kept in confinement, and 
which reared a brood, a correspondent of the ‘Magazine of 
Natural History’ wrote, ‘Previously to and during the time 
the hen was sitting, the cock serenaded her with his harsh 
and singular notes, some of them very similar to the mewing 
of a cat. He had also a peculiarity of constantly running 
round in a circle, till the ground where he performed his 
evolutions was worn as bare as a road, and the turf trodden 
down. Nothing could be more cordial and harmonious than 
this happy family. When the shades of evening approached, 
they crowded together in a circle on the ground, and 
prepared for the slumbers of the night by placing their tails 
all together, with their pretty mottled chins facing to the 
front in a watchful round-robin. When food was thrown in 
for them, the male bird would peck at the grain, but not 
eat any himself until he had called his family around him 
first to partake of the food, which he did with many soft 
blandishments, and with much strutting and spreading of the 
wings and tail.’ 
Male: length, a little over nine inches to nine and a half; 
bill, according to Meyer, bluish horn-colour, or black, as 
described by Wilson and Macgillivray, dusky black according 
to Yarrell; from the base of the upper mandible begins a 
black band, which continues above the eye, and forms a 
broad collar round the throat; over the eye and down the neck 
is a white streak underneath the black one. Iris, dusky black; 
under the eye is a black band running down the neck on 
each side and meeting in front; forehead, white; crown, rich 
red brown, edged on each side with black, of which colour 
are the centres of the feathers, and they are occasionally 
elevated in a crest-like manner. Neck on the sides and nape, 
also yellowish red brown, pencilled or spotted with white and 
black; most of the feathers edged with bluish ash-colour and 
pale yellow. Chin and throat, white, bounded by the band 
of black. Breast, on the upper part, pale reddish brown; the 
