T10 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
further than either the Texan bobwhite or the scaled 
partridge, and on alighting they run rapidly for a lit- 
tle distance and then squat again, generally flushing 
easier the second time. It is rare to see more than 
six together; two or three are more often met with. 
In the fall of 1886 I found a covey of five, on a wet 
and misty day, and killed three of them with a Win- 
chester rifle before the remaining two flew. I never 
found their eggs nor met with small young until this 
year. I saw but a single bird this season, and this 
seemed to be entirely alone. They are not very abun- 
dant here, and are always found in the most barren 
places, among rocks and wastes where even prickly 
pear is stunted and no bush grows over three feet 
high. When scared they utter a kind of whistling 
sound, a curious combination between a chuckle and 
a whistle, and while flying they make a noise a good 
deal like a prairie hen, though softer and less loud, like 
chuc-chuc-chuc, rapidly repeated. 
“The only nest of this species I have ever seen was 
situated under the edge of a big bunch of a coarse spe- 
cies of grass, known as ‘hickory grass.’ This grass 
grows out from the center, and hangs over on all sides 
until the blades touch the ground. It is a round, hard- 
stemmed grass, and only grows on the most sterile soil. 
According to my observations, the Massena partridge 
is seldom seen in other localities than where this grass 
grows. I was riding at a walk up the slope of a bar- 
ren hill, when my horse almost stepped on a nest, touch- 
ing just the rim of it. The bird gave a startled flut- 
