Still plentiful in spite of many thousand guns aimed at its life, the grouse ranges over the whole of northern North America, making short migrations in search of food or winter quarters. Sometimes when wintering in tall timber it eats great quantities of laurel buds; which, gunners say, makes the flesh highly poisonous for food. The survival of this game bird in such great numbers is due in a large measure to the whir of its flight, which serves a double purpose, startling the gunner and warning all other birds in the neighborhood. Some sportsmen never become accustomed to the sound; but are always unnerved and powerless to shoot the bird that makes it. One gunner, after having stood paralyzed before each grouse as it started up near him and whirred away out of range, roused himself with a desperate effort, and as the next thundered away brought the gun to his shoulder, shouting “Bang!” at the top of his lungs, while the grouse sped on unharmed. PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 34, SERIAL No. 34 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. [Illustration: BOB WHITE COPYRIGHTED BY LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES, 1906] _GAME BIRDS OF AMERICA_ _Bob White (Colinus virginianus)_ TWO Bob White is a brisk, enterprising little fellow with a heart full of hope, as his cheery greeting will tell you. He has been subjected to much discussion. “Bob White is quail,” say some; others insist that there are no quail in America and that Bob White is partridge. An acknowledged authority states that Bob White is called quail in the North and East, while in the South and West he is partridge. Wherever the ruffed grouse is called pheasant Bob White is called partridge; where the grouse is known as partridge Bob White is called quail. And we all know what he calls himself whenever he has his little say--and what he says of himself is gladly accepted everywhere. Bob White is a popular favorite among game birds on account of his attractive habits and the fact that he is to be found in almost all sections of the country--and wherever found he displays the qualities that make good hunting. He lives more in the open than the ruffed grouse, and by his admirers he is counted a finer game bird.