GAMBEL’S QUAIL 99 
call them together again with an intimation that the 
alarm is over. Then they huddle close around her, and 
she carefully leads them off to some other spot where 
she looks for greater security in the enjoyment of her 
hopes and pleasing cares. As long as they require the 
parents’ attention they keep close together, and are 
averse to flying. Even after becoming able to use their 
wings well they prefer to run and hide, or squat where 
they may be, when alarmed. If then forced up, the 
young covey flies off, without spreading, to a little dis- 
tance, often realighting on the lower limbs of trees or 
in bushes, rather than on the ground. As they grow 
older and stronger of wing they fly further, separate 
more readily, and more rarely take to trees; and some 
time before they are full grown they are found to have 
already become wary and difficult of approach. As 
one draws near where a covey is feeding, a quick, sharp 
cry from the bird who first notices the approach, alarms 
the whole, and is quickly repeated by the rest as they 
start to run, betraying their course by the rustling of 
dry leaves. Let him step nearer, and they rise with 
a whirr, scattering in every direction. 
“Newly hatched birds may be found all summer, and 
incubation goes on from, say, early in May until the 
middle of August. Not that any single pair are en- 
gaged so long, but that different broods may be hatched 
during all this time. A greater number of old birds 
pair in April, and hatch their first brood some time 
during the following month. Most of them doubtless 
raise another. Others appear to defer incubation for 
