Bob White is a plump, fine-looking fellow, known in the New England
and Middle States as the Quail and in the Southern States as the
Partridge. It is said, however, that these names belong to other and
quite different birds, and at the suggestion of Prof. Baird, Bob White,
which is its call note, has become its accepted and present name. In
the language of Mr. N. S. Goss these birds appear to thrive best in the
presence of man, and were they protected during our cold winters, would
soon become quite tame. They often nest near our dwellings. "In the
spring of 1867," says Mr. Goss, "I was shown on Owl Creek, Woodson
County, Kansas, a nest containing nineteen eggs. It was placed in the
dooryard, and not over twenty-five yards from the house; several dogs
were running about the yard, and the house cat was purring near the
doorway. Fearing the eggs would be destroyed, I suggested the building
of a high, tight fence round the nest. 'Oh,' said the farmer, 'that is
not necessary; our cats and dogs will not harm them, for they know them
well, as they have for a long time run about with the chickens, and feed
with them from food thrown from the doorstep.' I am confident that if
man were as friendly to the birds as they are to man, they would soon
become thoroughly domesticated. Trapped and hunted as they are with
dog and gun it is not strange that as a whole they remain timid and
mistrustful, and were they not naturally birds of civilization would
rapidly disappear with the settlement of the country. As it is, they
seem to realize that man is only at times their enemy, and that his
cultivated fields afford them a safe refuge from many other enemies,
and insure a more certain and bountiful supply of food than found
elsewhere."
Quails destroy injurious insects and seeds of weeds, upon which they
largely feed. When startled they rise with a loud whirring sound, their
flight being very swift, low, and direct, a rather laborious effort.
They move about in small coveys or family groups, pairing during the
nesting season, and share alike in the duties of protecting and rearing
the young.
The nest is placed on the ground, in a depression, usually in the grass
upon the prairies, sometimes in a thicket, under a low bush. It is
usually arched over with grass, with entrance on the side.
From fifteen to twenty pure white eggs are usually laid.
S. P. Cheney pleasantly says: "Familiar as I have been with almost all
parts of Vermont for more than thirty years, I have seen only one Quail
in the state, and he was evidently a 'tramp.' I heard him just at night,
the first day of July, 1884. Did not get sight of him till the next
morning, when he came out into the sun, stood on the top rail of a
fence, warmed himself, and whistled his spirited, forceful tune, his
solid little body swelling and throbbing at every note, especially when
he rose to the tonic. I was prepared for him, and made an exact copy of
what he gave: _Bob, Bob, White! Bob White! Bob, Bob, White!_ After the
performance he stood, evidently listening for a reply; none came, and
without another note he disappeared, to be seen no more."