GAMBEL’S PARTRIDGE. 63 
which nothing living could penetrate save themselves, 
or mountain sides that ascend in a direct line and 
which are covered with jagged stones and slippery bowl- 
ders, over which the light-footed birds pass without 
effort, stopping occasionally to look down and jeer at the 
struggling, panting mortal below who ts striving to con- 
quer the ascent, and when the pursuer had arrived 
at the summit, the Quail, it would be discovered, 
had run to the edge of another cafion, into which they 
flew at the first appearance of the sportsman, and began 
the ascent from below on the opposite side, leaving the 
hunter gazing at them across the great gulf that rolled be- 
tween. If there is another species of game bird more tan- 
talizing and vexatious in its manners, and more utterly 
lost to all the finer feelings that should compel it to con- 
form to the recognized rules that govern field sports, 
I happily do not know of it, and have no wish to meet 
with it, if existing. 
This species is dependent upon water, never going far 
away from brook or spring, and its presence is a pretty 
sure indication that a supply of the necessary fluid is near 
at hand. Gambel’s Quail is generally very abundant 
in the localities it frequents, and the coveys of trim, 
gay-looking birds are seen daily running about chas- 
ing insects, dusting themselves in the roads or sandy 
spots, and uttering all the while a soft low quect or wocet. 
When alarmed, they commence to run, following some 
leader in outstretched line, or else in bunches when each 
looks out for himself, dodging behind every bush and 
stone, and generally striving to reach some dense thicket, 
or some rocky hillside up which they climb with surpris- 
ing rapidity. It is, at first, almost impossible to make 
them take wing, and they will only fly when compelled to 
do so by their pursuer appearing right among them, 
