Resident, common in most places. The winter of 1878-9 they were almost exterminated by reason of the severe weather and their inability to procure food. For several years thereafter but few were found, but their abundance through the past season has been remarked and many are left for next year. In late October and through November our quails seem to desire to migrate.
Hunters say they become crazy.
They come into towns and cities in flocks, are readily caught in the hand, and many are killed by flying against obstructions. They seem lost and continually call for their mates, while they also are very tame. Some seasons they appear to mostly desert the uplands and seek the river valleys. The past fall attention was called to the scarcity of Bob-whites when the shooting season opened. From the best information I can obtain the low lands bordering the Ohio river were occupied by these birds in great numbers, many of them crossed the river into Kentucky, and many others perished in the attempt to cross the stream.