Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast

by Harry Thom Payne

(Colinus virginianus)

I have said that the voice of the bobwhite is heard in the land. This is true, for the clear notes of his little throat awaken the morning echoes from eastern Oregon to the islands of Puget Sound. This great little game bird, whose praise has been recounted in volumes of prose and sung in the rhythmic measures of countless lines of verse, is not a native of the coast, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. When he was turned loose in the Pacific Northwest he cast his bright little eyes about him and remarked to himself:

"This looks good to me. Bobwhite, get busy at once in raising big families and settle up your new domain."

And he has done it, for now the sportsmen of the Pacific Northwest have better bobwhite shooting than is to be found in any part of the eastern states.

The bobwhite roosts on the ground and always remains in single broods. When startled they huddle together and flush in a bunch. They are good hiders and lie well to the dog. They are seldom found far from water and rarely in heavy brush. They are fond of stubble or corn fields and the grassy nooks along the fences. Many efforts have been made to acclimatize this species farther south in California but they have all proved failures on account of the dryer climate and the lack of insects during the rearing season of their young. They must have a damp climate where the vegetation remains green, thus furnishing an abundance of insects during the early summer on which to feed their young. For until a bobwhite is nearly grown it lives almost entirely upon insects.

Color—Male—General color of the upper parts, light buff, marked with triangular blotches of brown; head and back of the neck, dark chestnut; forehead, gray; light stripe from above the eye passing down the side of the neck; throat, white or very light buff, faintly bordered with dark brown or black; breast, light buff with the feathers tipped with brown; flanks chestnut mixed with black and white.

Female—Generally lighter, and without the white throat and light breast.

Nest and Eggs—The nests are rude depressions on the ground beneath a fence rail or fallen limb, or in a bunch of thick grass or brush. The eggs number anywhere from fifteen to twenty and of a pure white color.

Measurements—Total length about nine inches; wing, 4 ¹/₂ inches; bill, ⁵/₈.