r, but in
mid-winter those who shoot them should be careful to draw them as soon
as possible, as the buds of laurel on which at that season they
sometimes feed, if left in the stomach of the dead bird, diffuse their
poisonous qualities over its whole body, and render it dangerous food.

[Illustration: AMERICAN PARTRIDGE, OR QUAIL. (_Perdrix Virginianus._ WILSON.)]

This well known bird, though not very migratory in its habits, has
extended its colonies from New England to Mexico. The spot where they
have been raised, if they can at all support life, is their home; and
there they will remain until the whole flock is destroyed by
sportsmen. This fact sufficiently disproves the asserted identity of
our partridge with the quail of the European continent, which is a
bird of passage, leaving Europe for Asia at the approach of winter,
and returning in very great numbers in the spring. Partridges assemble
in small families, varying according to circumstances from three to
thirty; and, except in the breeding season, they all live together in
a happy and mutual alliance. The quails on the other hand are
pugnacious to a proverb--"as quarrelsome as quails in a cage."

The partridges are nearly full grown by the beginning of September,
and associated in the usual coveys of from twenty to thirty afford
considerable sport to the gunner. The notes of the males at this time
are frequent, clear and loud, and they may by skillful imitation of
the call be deceived and induced approach. Their food consists of
grain seed, insects and berries of various kinds. The buckwheat fields
suffer severely from their depredations in September and October,
affording them at that time abundant food and secure shelter. At night
they roost in the middle of a field, on high ground, sitting round in
a circle with their heads outward. In this position they place
themselves at the commencement of a fall of snow, when their mutual
warmth is the better able to resist the effects of frost, and each
forms a guard for the whole against the approach of danger. They are
not afraid of snow, for they sometimes fly to a drift for safety; it
being only when a coating of frozen sleet resists their efforts to
leave it that they experience bad effects from it. The loud whirring
sound of their flight when flushed is well known. Its steady,
horizontal flight renders it an easy prey to the sportsman, especially
when he is assisted by a sagacious dog. The flesh of the partrid