UPLAND GAME BIRDS 123 



protection he seems to offer is not all a mockery, for, 

 altliough he scorns to take part in the feminine task of 

 brooding those buffj eggs, he will stand on gnard ready 

 to warn, and will expose his trim body to the hunter for 

 the sake of his mate and young. The brooding time is 

 twenty-eight days, but the little brown mother has end- 

 less patience and cannot be induced to desert. If 

 meddled with, she will in some way remove the eggs to 

 another hollow in the ground, and brood as before. 

 This has been done in four instances that I have re- 

 corded, and however much it may be disputed, is true. 

 Most of the nests are hard to find, being usually well 

 concealed in a hollow under a log, or mesquite clum[), 

 or cacti. The nestlings resemble those of the Bob Wliite 

 in appearance as well as habit, only they are grayer and 

 with less white down on under parts. They run about 

 the moment the. cracking of the shell sets them free, and 

 right spry little balls of down they are, hiding instantly 

 at their father's . warning ''quit," cuddling under their 

 mother each night, and snapping up bugs for their own 

 breakfasts each day. Fortunately for them, according to 

 Mr. Sandys, although so " beautiful, hardy, and prolific," 

 they have some habits which lead a sportsman a hard, wild 

 chase if he gets them at all. They run rather than fiy, 

 keeping under the thickest, thorniest cover ; they fiy down 

 into canons only to climb up the other side among the 

 stifibst underbrush ; they lie low when the foe is searching 

 close beside them, and they " scoot " when least expected. 

 " Only a Christian of the sternest stripe is fit to be trusted 

 on the trail of tiiis nimble-footed little rascal." 



