UPLAND GAME BIRDS 123 
protection he seems to offer is not all a mockery, for, 
although he scorns to take part in the feminine task of 
brooding those buffy eggs, he will stand on guard ready 
to warn, and will expose his trim body to the hunter for 
the sake of his mate and young. The brooding time is 
twenty-eight days, but the little brown mother has end- 
less patience and cannot be induced to desert. If 
meddled with, she will in some way remove the eggs to 
another hollow in the ground, and brood as_ before. 
This has been done in four instances that I have re- 
corded, and however much it may be disputed, is true. 
Most of the nests are hard to find, being usually well 
concealed in a hollow under a log, or mesquite clump, 
or cacti. The nestlings resemble those of the Bob White 
in appearance as well as habit, only they are grayer and 
with less white down on under parts. They run about 
the moment the cracking of the shell sets them free, and 
right spry little balls of down they are, hiding instantly 
at their father’s warning “ quit,” cuddling under their 
mother each night, and snapping up bugs for their own 
breakfasts each day. Fortunately for them, according to 
Mr. Sandys, although so “ beautiful, hardy, and prolific,” 
they have some habits which lead a sportsman a hard, wild 
chase if he gets them at all. They run rather than fly, 
keeping under the thickest, thorniest cover ; they fly down 
into cafions only to climb up the other side among the 
-_stiffest underbrush ; they lie low when the foe is searching 
close beside them, and they “ scoot” when least expected. 
“ Only a Christian of the sternest stripe is fit to be trusted 
on the trail of this nimble-footed little rascal.” 
