GAMBELS PARTRIDGE. 63 



which nothing Hving 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 is 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 canon, 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 qucct or zvoeet. 

 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. 



