. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds. Birds; Birds. BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 325 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, ETC. The Grouse are treated among the birds of orchard and woodland, on pp. 266-274. Bob-white. Quail. Qolinus virginianus. Length. — About ten inches. Adult Male.—Upper parts mainly reddish-brown, with dark streaks and light edgings; forehead and broad line over eye white; throat patch white, bor- dered with bl
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds. Birds; Birds. BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 325 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, ETC. The Grouse are treated among the birds of orchard and woodland, on pp. 266-274. Bob-white. Quail. Qolinus virginianus. Length. — About ten inches. Adult Male.—Upper parts mainly reddish-brown, with dark streaks and light edgings; forehead and broad line over eye white; throat patch white, bor- dered with black; tail short, gray; crown, upper breast, and neck all round brownish-red; breast and belly whitish, narrowly barred and marked with crescent-shaped black marks; sides reddish-brown. Adult Female. — Similar, but duller; without the black on the head, and the white mainly replaced by buff. Nest. — On ground, among bushes, gi'ass, or grain. Mygs. —White, often stained with brown. Season. — Resident. No bird is more ty'pical of the southern New England farm than the Quail.^ Its clear and mellow call is still a char- acteristic sound of spring and early summer. The plowman hears it as he drives his team afield, and it mingles with the ringing sound of the whetstone on the scythe. The Quail is an inhabitant of the transition zone, and cannot maintain itself much farther north than Massa- chusetts except along the coast, where the winters are less severe than in £.'^-1/ the interior. It gets its sustenance »-' mainly from the ground ; hence, when pig. i46.—nob-wMte, one- ,-, ,1*1 1 1 .ji half natural size. the earth is deeply covered with snow its food is hard to obtain, and many Quail are starved or frozen under the snow during hard winters, as was the case during the winter of 1&03-04. Such winter killings occur many times during a century, and the birds have always partially recovered their lost ground; but unless they can receive absolute protection for a se
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