THE AMERICAN QUAIL. 203 



a quick glimpse of the little birds is enougli to 

 convince you that they are as pretty and inno- 

 cent as baby birds can be. 



No wonder the quails are so wary. Full 

 well do they know how fatal is the sportsman's 

 gun with its charge of scattering shot that makes 

 escape almost impossible. So many of their com- 

 panions have been killed in this way that those 

 which remain have learned to distrust mankind, 

 and so they seek the most out-of-the-way nooks, 

 and conceal themselves at the first approach of 

 a human being. Poor things! they must be 

 constantly on their guard, and I do not see 

 how their lives can be happy when they must 

 always be in dread of the gunner's fatal lead. 



Audubon describes a most interesting habit 

 of these birds. He says they often roost on 

 the ground in the grass or beneath a bent log, 

 and this is the way they go to bed: They 

 arrange themselves in a circle, with their heads 

 extending outward, and then they move back- 

 ward, making the circle smaller, until their 

 bodies almost touch, when they settle down 

 and are ready for a jaunt into dreamland. But 

 why do they choose such a position ? Because, 

 if danger should approach, each bird can start 

 up on the wing mthout colliding with his 

 neighbors, and dash away in his own direc- 



