24 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
beginning as early as usual; but from September in the 
South to November in the North the broods have become 
indistinguishable from their parents. Of course there 
are exceptions to this, and the first brood may have 
been hatched late, or the second brood delayed for some 
cause. I have met young birds unable to fly any dis- 
tance and covered with pin-feathers as late as the last 
of November and beginning of December. Quail are 
affectionate birds, and each little family keeps always 
together, no member ever leaving the main body unless 
under compulsion, and then is very restless and unhappy 
until it has regained its companions. 
When flushed the birds rise in a bunch, with a resound- 
ing whir of the rapidly moving wings, very disturbing 
to the young sportsman, and fly usually together in 
a straight line, and alight all at once not far from each 
other, when they lie close and motionless, permitting 
the sportsman to flush them singly. [If disturbed more 
than once they then become widely scattered, occasionally 
alighting in trees, and seek the deepest thickets and most 
impenetrable places they can find. After they have 
remained unmolested for some considerable time they 
begin to move, and some little brown clump or tuft will 
stir and disclose a bird, its bright black eye glancing 
in every direction, the little creature all alert to every 
sound and motion. It gathers confidence in the stillness 
of its retreat, and gently utters a low Quoi-i-hee and 
listens. No response is heard, and again the same call 
is uttered, perhaps a little louder, and this time a similar 
faint cry comes in reply. Our little friend takes a few 
steps in the direction of the sound and calls again, and 
now from various parts of the field and thicket comes 
the cry Quoi-i-hee, quoi-i-hee, until, guided by their 
voices, the little band is again united, and their plaintive 
