(FRUL'SR, ltOli—Wlll'l‘lib‘, l'I'l‘(‘. 179 
     
    
   
   
    
     of both seXes have the crown blacker. the bully markings generally paler. 
     
     1,.V limo; \\'.. we; '12, mo; 1;. from N.‘ -:;5. 
     
    

    
     [Magmaliastern North Ameriea. from southern Maine and Minnesota 
     
     southward to the ('rult'ot' Mexico; resident \\‘liere\‘er t‘ound. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     \\'asliington, common 1’. R. Sing Sing. common l’. K. Cambridge, com— 
     
     mon l’. ll. 
     
    

    
     Mel, on the ground, in 
     
     1‘20 X "J5. 
     
    
   
   
    
     grassy fields. lay/ya ten to eighteen, white, 
     
    
   
   
    
     Taking the Old-World species of the genera ('utumnh‘ and Corvallis 
     
     as the types respectively of Quails and l’artridges, neither of these lat- 
     
     ter names can properly be applied to our Coltzuzs. which should there— 
     
     fore be known under the distinctive title Bob-white. 
     
    

    
     During the nesting season Bob-whites are distributed in pairs 
     
     through clearings and cultivated fields. The members of a brood 
     
     constitute a bevy or covey, though oe -asionally two families or broods 
     
     are found in one bevy. In the fall they frequent grain fields, but as 
     
     winter approaches draw in toward thiekets and wooded bottom-lands, 
     
     sometimes passing the coldest weather in boggy alder swamps. They 
     
     roost on the ground. tail to tail. with heads pointing outward : a bunch 
     
     of closely huddled forms—a living bomb whose explosion is scarcely 
     
     less startling than that of dynamite manufacture. 
     
    

    
     Like most grass-inhabiting birds whose colors harmonize with their 
     
     surroundings. Bob—whites rely on this protective resemblance to escape 
     
     detection. and take wing only as a last resort. Sometimes they take 
     
     refuge in trees. but usually they head for wooded cover, where they 
     
     remain if the growth is dense. but if it is open they gene 'ally run the 
     
     moment they touch the ground. 
     
    

    
     About May 1 they begin to pair. and rival males may then be seen 
     
     battling for mates like diminutive gameeocks. 
     
    

    
     The name " Bob-white. ” originated in the spring call of the male. 
     
     Mounting a fence or ascending to the, lower branches of a tree. he 
     
     whistles the two clear musical, ringing notes Bob-10h {to .’ Sometimes 
     
     they are preceded by a lower one which can be heard only when one 
     
     is near the singer. 
     
    

    
     A fter the breeding season. when the birds are, in bevies. their notes 
     
     are. changed to what sportsmen term “scatter calls." Not long after 
     
     a bevy has been flushed and perhaps widely scattered. the members of 
     
     the disunited family maybe heard signaling to one another in sweet. 
     
     minor calls of two and three notes. \Vhen excited they also utter low. 
     
     twittering notes. 
     
    
   
   
    
     2893,. C. V. floridanus (I'm/mi. FLORIDA Ron—WHITE: QI'AIL; I’AR- 
     
     ‘rtum:r2.~<.\'imilar to the preeeding‘ but smaller, the plumage throughout darker. 
     
     the blaek ot' the back more, extensive. the rump and upper tail—eoverts grayer,